


The Return of the Apocalypse

by HelloIExist



Series: Return of the Apocalypse [1]
Category: Black Friday - Team StarKid, The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Apotheosis strikes back, Blood and Gore, Canon-Typical Violence, Disembowelment, F/M, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Past Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:07:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 22
Words: 37,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24224041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HelloIExist/pseuds/HelloIExist
Summary: When the world turns to a cacophony of songs and screams, a group of coworkers, a teenager, a kid and a musically inclined recluse are bound together with the single goal of survival.(Title Credit to readytomcf_ckingdie)
Relationships: Alice & Bill (The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals), Alice/Deb (The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals), Charlotte/Ted (The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals), Cineplex Teen & Ethan Green, Ethan Green & Hannah Foster, Ethan Green & Henry Hidgens, Henry Hidgens & Emma Perkins, Henry Hidgens & Ted, Henry Hidgens/Ted, Lex Foster/Ethan Green, Paul Matthews & Emma Perkins, Paul Matthews/Emma Perkins
Series: Return of the Apocalypse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1848637
Comments: 125
Kudos: 95





	1. The begining of the end

_No one had expected it. Well, very few had expected it. Meteors had landed before, everywhere except Hatchetfield. Trust this town to turn a normal occurrence into a life threatening situation. The low hum had engulfed the streets now, streets flooded with blue blood and infected water dripping from faucets. The world turned into a waking nightmare._

* * *

The night before the horrors began was ordinary. Rain was pelting down against the tin roofs in the trailer park. Alexandra Foster had been curled up in one of their two beds, her mother nowhere to be found. Hannah and Ethan were with her, the three sharing the limited space in the dimly lit mobile home. It had been peaceful, the trio quietly enjoying each other's company. Then a sickening crack sounded through the streets, a pale blue light cast over the town for a few seconds as their overhead light flickered. Hannah had tensed, Ethan and Lex trying to comfort the young girl as she let out a string of gibberish. Hannah muttered senselessly into Ethan's side and letting out a small sob. Both teenagers held onto her, ignoring her babbling. In their final moments, they would wish they hadn't.

Lex had woken up early the next morning, Ethan's soft snores echoed off the trailer walls. She smiled fondly as she watched the pair remaining on the bed. During the night, Ethan's jacket had somehow made it's way around Hannah's shoulders instead. Lex let out a small chuckle as she made her way to the kitchenette in the corner of the room, looking back at her partner and Hannah. She just hoped they could make something of their lives in this wreck of a town. Lex tried to stop her thoughts as she looked through their empty cupboards.

Hannah had woken up a few minutes later. The girl noted the lack of Ethan and Lex beside her, as well as their jackets over her. She shuddered a little, they were trying so hard and she hated it. They wanted to make her feel better and she wasn't letting them. She looked up to see the couple at the other end of the trailer, she wanted them to stay like that, happy. Unlike her.

The three had then wandered through the streets of Hatchetfield, slowly making their way to the school. Ethan's hand gripped Lex's with Hannah hanging off his sleeve. They could all hear a soft humming around them as people passed, but none seemed cheery. Eerie, staring eyes focused on the youngest Foster sister. Lex and Ethan kept walking and dragging the kid beside them, unaware of the danger when they reached downtown Hatchetfield. Then they heard a soft melody engulfing them.

Hannah tore herself away from the teenagers, small hands clamping over her ears as the citizens of the town sung, trapping a man amongst the dancing hordes. Ethan looked at the young girl, letting go of the girlfriend's hand and crouching beside Hannah.

"What's wrong Banana?" He asked gently, always trying to remain calm for her, speaking softly despite the noise around them. Hannah couldn't do much in response, she just produced another string of words. Grenades. Military. Bad Cop. She shook as she leant on Ethan. She was drowning in the noise around them. The singing felt targeted at her even though she could see the man the citizens were focusing on, she couldn't explain why. She hoped her own glassy stare would convey that to Ethan.

Ethan nodded a little, confused. "Ok, I know you're scared. Let's take the day off school, your mother won't care." He suggested to her. He genuinely cared about her, he would even if he weren't with Lex. Speaking of his beloved girlfriend, he looked up but she was gone. Absorbed into the crowd of brainwashed residents.

"Lexie..." Hannah whimpered, gripping Ethan's hand now with tears in her eyes. Being alone with her own mind was her worst fear. "Ethan... Where is she?"

The boy was tense, eyes darting around as he made a decision. He scooped Hannah up into his arms, she was still small enough for that. He carried the younger Foster through the packed masses and down an alley, not looking back for Lex. He ducked behind some garbage cans and thought for a moment. Both of them were breathing heavily as they hid. Hannah in mostly in fear however. Ethan could also tell that something was wrong, well, he felt like it was something wrong with Hannah. He was humoring her at most, just trying to make the little girl feel normal.

The singing eventually died down, the man the horde had focused on escaped. The low hum continued as people idled in the street, purpose gone. Hannah frowned, that man was important, for a reason she couldn't perceive yet. The 13-year-old's senses were then flooded with another random grouping of ideas and words. Seeping into her mind and forcing her to focus on what something wanted her to hear and know. She tried to speak, repeat the warning but she couldn't. Ethan was just sitting there, waiting for her to confirm that they could leave. They never listened to her warnings. She was a kid, they just assumed she was delusional.


	2. Enter the CCRP crew

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tw- Mentioned/Referenced child abuse regarding Hannah and Lex, the implied section begins after the line of "She let out a soft, sobbed out sentence" skip the next paragraph if it makes you uncomfortable in any capacity.

Time passed slowly. Hannah refused to leave the safety of the garbage cans. It got hotter, the pair luckily in the shadow of an office building. The teenage boy's thoughts were crowded with thoughts of Lex. They'd lost her in the crowd and now he was once again babysitting her "creative" little sister. 

  
Then there was a slam, a door hitting the wall of the building they were leaning against. Hannah once again tensed as the impact of the door rattled through the alleyway, two men and a woman rushing out of the emergency exit, distressed. Ethan tried to listen to their panicked words.

  
"Was anyone else alarmed?" One man asked, the pair behind the trash cans couldn't see him but he seemed the least calm. 

  
"I don't fucking know!" Another male voice answered. His voice was loud and harsh, hiding any sensitivities he may have had.

  
"Paul went to get coffee." The woman stuttered out, clearly desperate to add to the conversation. It sounded like she cared for both men.

  
"Stay out of this, we don't need Paul." It was the same, sharp, unpleasant growl as before. Except, this time it was toned down slightly, as though he wasn't trying to antagonise the woman as much as the man he spoke to previously. 

  
"Ted, shut up. Let's just wait here for Paul." Jittery voiced man again, he was slowly nearing the trash cans. Ethan could hear his footsteps now, just on the other side of the bins.

  
"Paul isn't going to come through the bloody alley, Bill." The way the man, Ted, said Bill's name was almost patronising, talking down to him as if he was bigger and smarter. He was close enough now that Ethan could see him from behind the bins. Ted was the tallest of the three, suspicious moustache above his permanently scowl-locked lips. He smelt like whatever he'd drunk the previous night. Ethan felt Hannah curl into him. 

  
Hannah was whispering anxiously again, just his name and various stock statements such as "I'm scared" and the like. She hid her face from him, she just wanted her sister back. He looked to the nearing adults.

  
"Both of you stop fighting, please..." The woman sighed, looking between Ted and Bill. Ethan considered her. She seemed kind enough, motherly even. She clung to Ted, an act Ethan may have thought was sweet if it weren't for her wedding ring and Ted's lack thereof. He shouldn't have been judging these strangers, however.

  
"We just need to wait until the boss leaves." Ted grunted, kicking at one of the bins and causing Hannah to let out a soft yelp. "What the fuck?" Ted stumbled back as he saw the leather clad teenager and young girl beside him.

  
Hannah gripped Ethan tighter, breathing quickening as she screwed her eyes shut. The three adults stared down for a moment, in pure confusion. The three's eyes all met each other's at random moments, trying to think of a plan. Then Bill slowly stepped forward.

  
"Hey, It's... uh, It's ok. I know Ted's a bit scary." The gentler man offered Hannah a kind smile. "I'm Bill, this is Ted and Charlotte. We won't hurt you or anything..." Hannah flinched as he stepped closer, shaking. Ted glared down at Ethan.

  
"How do you know this kid? What are you doing with her?" Ted snarled, distrusting Ethan despite having only just walked into the situation. Ethan just retuned the stare, not letting go of Hannah. 

  
"She's my girlfriend's sister, I'm her babysitter." He looked to Hannah who just nodded along with his words. "People were singing and dancing, it overwhelmed the kid, so I brought her back here to calm down. We lost her sister and Hannah doesn't want to leave." He watched Ted mull this over, he couldn't find any holes in Ethan's story and stepped away with a frustrated sigh. Charlotte gently brushed past Ted and crouched in front of the kids.

  
"It will all be alright, I'm sure. We're a bit scared too but we- well, I will stay with you until you feel comfortable with leaving." She moved closer, trying to calm them while neglecting her own, clearly disturbed mental state. To Ethan's surprise and shock, Hannah shuffled away from him, making eye contact with Charlotte before mumbling at Ethan.

  
"They're good." The little girl smiled weakly, finally able to fixate on something other than her own unease. "You saw singing too." She said it less as a question and more as a fact, staring up at the adults. She could never explain how she knew things.

  
Ted frowned, raising an eyebrow. "How would you know?" He looked to his colleagues in confusion. The condescending nature of his voice was still there even in his moments of bewilderment, that was just how he spoke, Ethan supposed. The teenager looked at Hannah, who nodded, knowing what he was going to ask. 

  
"She hears things." Ethan sighed, looking at Ted who threw his hands up in frustration. Ethan explained further on Hannah's silent cue. "We don't know what it is. Lex, her sister, and I just assumed that she had an imaginary friend or a strong imagination, but she gets scarily close sometimes..." It was true. The way that Hannah knew things couldn't be explained by her just being observant or bright, she could predict things vaguely. Never details.

  
"Like a psychic?" Charlotte asked, intrigued by what he was saying. Ted pulled the woman back towards him in frustration as soon as the sentence left her mouth.

  
"Jesus fucking Christ, Char." Ted huffed, bringing one hand to his face, the other on Charlotte's shoulder. "Psychics don't exist, they're robbing you of money as much as Sam robs you of happiness." Ethan snorted at Ted's smug expression, entertained by his own comment. Ted was an idiot, but a funny idiot none the less.

  
"Don't speak like that to her." Bill pushed between Ted and Charlotte, turning his attention to Ethan. "Our boss was singing, then the whole office was. There was some blue... slime like thing pouring from his mouth. His assistant, Melissa, had it all up her legs, it looked like they were broken. Our co-worker, Paul, left before the chaos ensued, we're hoping he will walk past." The frightened man explained, forgetting that his description of events might scare the 13-year-old. Instead, Hannah looked up at Bill and nodded, repeating various mumblings to herself.

  
"Bad songs." She stated knowingly, the adults confused by the cryptic tone. "Paul." She repeated the name, fragile brain connecting the strings she had. But she didn't share them, listening to the footsteps and talking nearing the group. Ethan pulled Hannah closer as echoed footsteps filled the alley. The three adults ducked down beside them. He could feel Hannah's heart racing as she tucked herself into his chest. Ethan listened.

  
"Oh my god, what the fuck was that?!" A female voice shrieked, coming to a halt in front of the garbage cans. 

  
"I told you it was scarier than it sounded!" A distressed male voice replied. A look of recognition spreading across Bill and Charlotte's faces. 

  
"You were right, I didn't think about the implications..." The female spoke again, voice wavering. "Oh my god I didn't think about it!" She practically screeched. The man, Ethan assumed he was Paul, started shushing her. 

  
"Shh, Emma, It's alright." He didn't exactly have a tone that conveyed his words. As if that phrase was a code or something of the sort, Bill sprung up from behind the bin, Ted, trying to stop him from getting up.

  
"No! It's not alright Paul!" Bill practically shouted, confirming Ethan's theory. There were two screams, a high-pitched scream and a scream from a woman.

  
"Bill!" Paul panted out. "You scared the shit out of us." He sounded like it had.

  
"Well, how the hell am I supposed to pop out of a trash can and not scare the shit out of you?" Bill looked down at them, exasperated. Ethan snorted as he watched Hannah playing with her braids. Ted and Charlotte were huddled together, listening.

  
"I don't know." Paul sighed, knowing that the other man had a point. "Give us a warning or something." Ethan could see Ted smirk a little as Charlotte prepared to say something to the others, deciding in that split second to, once again, prove himself to be the worst. Ted shoved her forward, causing Charlotte to run into the garbage can and more screams to come from Paul and Emma.

  
"Charlotte!" Paul shouted, frustrated, and distressed. Ethan watched Charlotte try to collect herself, looking down at Ted, not speaking up for a moment.

  
"Sorry, I tried to warn you." Charlotte mumbled, looking down. Ted chuckled to himself, he found this far too amusing. He didn't appear to care about the woman.

  
"Who are these people?!" The woman with Paul yelled, frustrated with the group's antics. Hannah tensed again, something felt wrong about her. She tried to pull Ethan's jacket around her, causing him to be pulled forward too.

  
"They're my friend's from work." Paul sighed, trying to relax the woman. Bill looked back to Ethan and Hannah, grabbing the teenager's arm and hauling him up, the young girl falling from his grip. Ethan glared, fumbling to hold her up.

"We found these two." Bill tried to explain, Paul's eyes casting over the two younger members of the group. "Ted is with us too.: Bill was almost regretful as he shared that. Paul sighed and looked down. 

  
Ted huffed as he got up, pointing to Hannah, then Ethan. "This is kid, this is wannabe emo." Ethan really did not like this man. Judging by Paul's expression, he wasn't overly excited either. Paul just gestured to the woman.

  
"This is Emma, I met her at the coffee shop." He sighed, running a hand through his own hair. "People started singing again... we got scared- and will you please stop smirking at me Ted?" All eyes moved to the moustached man who was leant against the wall, arms folded.

  
"What? It's not everyday we see Paul Matthews with a girl." Ted's usual smirk returned. Something about the way he spoke and carried himself disgusted Hannah but she knew there was more to everyone. Ted was no exception. His smug nature was a façade, no one else may have realised yet. But Hannah had.

  
"Shut up." Emma glared at Ted. "What are you all doing in the trash?" She was too small to be this angry, but Ethan respected it. She already reminded him of Lex. Lex. He had to take his mind off of her, she was probably fine. She just hadn't realised that Ethan and Hannah weren't with her. She was safe. There was no guarantee that this situation was dangerous anyway.

  
"We had to hide somewhere, Mr Davidson kept calling people into his office and they kept coming out singing!" Bill stressed, hands planted on the lids of the bins. "We came out here and found..." he trailed off, gesturing to the kids.

  
"I'm Ethan, this is my girlfriend's sister, Hannah." The teenager grunted, realising he'd never introduced himself. "We were on our way to school when we saw everyone singing and dancing. It scared the kid so we ran in here and hid." He explained as he held the little girl close, feeling her begin to struggle and pull away. He watched her eyes fixate on Paul, knowingly.

  
"It was you." She pointed at the man, who was immediately distressed. Everyone looked at Hannah, various fleeting emotions crossing their faces. Ted then broke the uncomfortable silence with a snorted chuckle.

  
"Kid, you should definitely take her somewhere, she's a little..." He looked at Ethan who immediately knew what Ted meant. It just made his blood boil. How dare he assume that Hannah was cray? How dare he assume that she didn't face her own mental barriers? How dare he assume that those mental barriers made her inferior to him? Thankfully Hannah replied before Ethan could take out any range on Ted or Ted's skull preferably. 

  
"Paul." Hannah pointed again, confident. She looked back to her brotherly figure with a pleading look and he nodded, interpreting what she meant by the look. 

  
"We saw Paul earlier." He watched everyone's faces drop to confusion. "There was a man this morning when everyone was singing, they were singling him out and trapping him inside the group. That was you, right Paul?" He stared at the young man who simply nodded, surprised.

  
"That was me." Paul looked to Emma, Ethan, then his coworkers. "We should all go home, or find somewhere to go. We all need to hide... At the coffee shop people started poisoning customers, I think it's deadly, like the singing is contagious or something." He cut himself off, embarrassed by his own nervous rambling. The others then all nodded in agreement, not at all surprised by Paul's claims.

  
"I called Sam, he'll know what to do.: Charlotte spoke up, tone sounding nothing but proud of herself. Then she winced, Ted had hit her on the shoulder, glaring down at her and beginning to berate her about this decision. Hannah whimpered softly as she watched the couple. She let out a soft, sobbed out sentence.

  
"If I agree, will you hit me too?" She asked Ted quietly, who immediately stopped still. The adult was confused by Hannah's sudden change in mood but Ethan just shook his head. Ethan has seen and knew everything Ms Foster had done to her daughters. He had cradled Hannah in his arms while Lex tended to her black eye. He had seen the chair that had been brought down and shattered over his girlfriend's skull. He had anxiously waited in the hospital for nights on end. Ethan would do anything to protect them, to get them out of the trailer park, to somewhere where they could be safe. The chances were slim now. His thoughts were interrupted by piercing sirens and Ted groaning. Either Charlotte's husband was a cop or they'd finally got all their evidence against Ted together.

  
"Sam!" Charlotte sprung forward out of the alley, practically throwing herself at one of the cops that approached. His gaze was frozen and unmoving, Ted trying to move out of his eyeline. Ethan could see his eyes through his glasses, they were fixed on Hannah. The teenager pulled her close and glared at Sam as Charlotte desperately rambled at her husband.

  
"Bad cop." Hannah whispered to her babysitter, trying to reach for Charlotte. The girl knew the answers now, she couldn't articulate her thoughts. Then she clamped her hands back over her ears. Sam was singing.


	3. On the drive

Time quickened as chaos broke out, Sam reaching for everyone who got close enough. His fellow cops singing back up and dancing in awkward jerky motions as the three terrorised the group in the alley. Hannah sobbed as the officers singing turned more into yelling, overwhelming her with noise. She knew how dangerous it would be if they caught her. She looked over to Charlotte who was slowly realising her mistake. This clearly wasn't the man Charlotte knew and possibly loved. It was something else, a creature in the place Sam should be. The thought terrified her.

Then Hannah felt the cops separate her and Ethan, him being dragged to join Paul and Charlotte. She let out another small sob, curling into the nearest person as the police threw her to the ground, continuing their jazz number. The small girl felt two sets of arms wrap around her, protecting her. She looked up as she covered her ears again. Bill was sat to her right, smiling gently at her to cover his own fear and comfort her. Emma was on her other side, one arm awkwardly around Hannah as she watched the cops in concern.

Paul was staring straight ahead as the officers sang. His senses were almost as overrun as Hannah's. He watched his friends struggle as they were thrown about, Sam's grip unnaturally strong. The teenager who had been with Hannah was beside him, eyes locked on her as he prepared to run to her. Paul was looking at Emma instead. He could only remember how terrified she had been at the coffee shop. She had been forced to watch co-workers and frequent customers, people she'd practically cultivated relationships with, choke to death. Blue poison seeping from their mouths and eyes as the life drained out of them. Then they were reanimated but the damage to their bodies persisted, eyes fading to a pupil-less blue. Then the song they sang, haunting and violent, swarming to capture Paul and Emma. He had clear affection for the woman but now he only protected her out of goodwill. Seeing anyone he cared for suffer broke him.

That was why he chased Sam. When he saw Charlotte's monster of a husband pull a gun on her, his anger boiled over. He fell in line behind Ted and ran after Sam through the grimy backstreets. Then a clatter and a sickening thud broke Sam's song. Paul slid to a stop, his taller co-worker standing over the cop’s body. Charlotte ripped the gun from Sam's, now weak, grip, pointing it at his officers until they ran. Ted looked back, lifting the bin lid he'd battered Sam with to his co-workers’ view. Blue goo dripped from the edge. Silence fell across the group until Charlotte went to her husband, falling to her knees beside him.

"Sam...?" She whimpered as she pushed his hair back from his face, her hands slowly becoming stained blue. Ted tugged her back, staring at Sam's head. The blood that should have been there wasn't, the flesh that surrounded the hole in his head looked relatively unharmed. If it weren't for his bright, blue, leaking brain, he would have seemed normal.

Hannah began shaking as she gripped Ethan's hand, trying to tune out Ted and Charlotte beginning to yell at each other. Sam's exposed and cracked skull burned into her brain. It wasn't from Ted hitting him, she knew that much. Whatever that was wasn't Sam, those weren't other cops, those weren't the citizens of Hatchetfield. Twisted versions maybe, but not the people she and Lex had grown up avoiding.

"It's ok..." Ethan whispered to her, attempting to console her by fixing her braids. "We're going back to the trailer. I'll go find Lex; we'll be safe..." He was horrified too. Seeing inside Sam's head would have been bad enough. But the sight of it turned the same ghastly blue that had marred the other two cops' skin, it shook him. He looked back to the adults, trying to listen. The only discernible sounds were Charlotte's violent screams and sobs, the three men and Emma barely getting any words out as they tried different ways to of calming her. He could only tie the pain he could see Charlotte in back to the numerous nights when he tried to calm his own mother. Charlotte acted as she always had, seeming so on top of it for so long before snapping. It was an odd connection to make in this time of crisis. Then something Emma said caught his attention.

"I have this, kooky, reclusive biology professor, Professor Hidgens!" She continued her panicked rambling as Ethan thought through her words. Hidgens. Professor Hidgens, a biologist and recluse. There was one man that he knew matching that description. Hell, he'd never met him. He was glad he hadn't from what his mother had said about her older, estranged brother. He was completely stuck in his thoughts as Ted voiced his agreement with Emma's suggestion. He shook his head immediately, unable to get a word in.

"Charlotte, I think what's best for all of us, including Sam, is to get to the professor..." Paul started pulling her up, the whole group preparing to go. Ethan looked around rapidly, trying to find someone to voice his concerns to. He grabbed Emma's arm nervously.

"We can't go there. To him." He could barely recognise his own voice. He tried so hard to seem stronger and tougher than others but not now. He was genuinely upset. Emma frowned a little, confused. The woman clearly wasn't comfortable around the teenager just yet.

"He's fine, kid. I trust him, more or less. He just seems a little sick in the head at times." Emma shrugged as she looked over to the group climbing into the police car. Paul was trying to coax Hannah along with him. She kept looking back to Ethan.

Ethan sighed and looked over at the 13-year-old. "Whatever. If he's as bad as I think he is then Hannah and I will find our way to safety." He looked down for a moment, trying to force himself to go after the others. He had such an anxious feeling about this.

"Fine. I'm sure it'll be fine." Emma sighed, following the others. She got into the driver's seat, not looking back to the teenager, confused as to why he had felt the need to share that with her. Ethan sighed and walked over to the car as well. He pulled the door open aggressively fast and slammed it once he sat down in the backseat.

Hannah looked up at Ethan, confused a little, silently watching him. She didn't like seeing him upset. Almost as much as she hated seeing Lex upset. She looked away as the name crossed her mind. She looked down at her shaking hands, digging her nails into her palms which were luckily covered by her flannel. She didn't like all the strange adults in the car. She considered them one by one.

There was the man in the very back. He sat beside the blue-blooded man they had brought with them. He was nice, she supposed anyway. She had no other thoughts on him, he appeared to be trying. There was the woman who was with him and his co-worker. She had her head tucked into the creepy man's neck, arms around him. He didn't seem to care. That confused Hannah more. The only experience she'd ever had with people acting like that towards each other was her sister and Ethan. They never behaved like this creepy man was. She felt slightly bad as she looked to the front seat, Paul was sat there, scrolling through his phone and texting someone frantically. Hannah tried to look over his shoulder, but she couldn't make out any names. She went to look at the woman in the front, she had no thoughts on her though. She's caught the woman's name as well, Hannah only tended to listen when Ethan or Paul spoke so far. Emma was just staring forward at the road. Hannah didn't like that; she didn't like how silent she was.

Then Ted decided to speak up in his normal, growly voice. "Why are we going here?" His arm was tight around Charlotte. He was just protecting his.... he didn't exactly know what she was to him. She was a part of something, so were he and Sam. He just hoped things would get better now that Charlotte's husband was knocked out, she'd have to be with him. He was her only choice after all.

"Because we need to. It's the safest place for us to go." Paul spoke up from the front, drawing Ted's stare to him. The moustached man just rolled his eyes. "I know you don't care Ted, but we need somewhere to go and Emma's teacher, can look after us." There were nods from most of the group except for Ted and Charlotte. An annoyed huff from one and complete silence from the other.

"I love the idea of being safe and not ending up like Sam but, we don't know this man." Ted ran his hand up Charlotte's arm, hiding his own nerves and sensitivity. "Look, I don't trust strangers, how do we know that this professor is going to help us? He could be completely crazy and that wouldn't help us at all." He was most focused on the woman beside him, ignoring the glares from everyone.

"Ethan... I'm scared." Hannah looked at her sister's boyfriend, taking everyone's attention away from Ted. "What if this ends badly... Professor." She looked down, overcome with thoughts again.

Ethan let out a small sigh as everyone else went silent to focus on him and Hannah. "She's thinking... We need to go find her sister." He admitted his own weakness, he loved his girlfriend and he didn't want to imagine her not making it out. He saw Emma's eyes on him in the rear-view mirror as she nodded a little.

"She'll be ok kid, I promise. The school will have gone on lockdown after the reports of violence." The woman swore, looking around at everyone in the car. "I promise professor Hidgens can help us get through it..." She offered a smile as he nodded, grateful for the support.

The teenager looked down at Hannah, holding her close. Professor Hidgens had refused to ever talk to any of his family. He used to yell at Ethan's mother through the phone a lot, shouting that it wasn't his fault. He wanted to avoid him, but this is for Hannah and everyone else here. If he didn’t want to let him in, then he'd force his uncle to take care of Hannah. He refused to let her get hurt, ever. He would do anything. Die even. He probably would, considering what the world looked like now. He'd do anything for his girls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this chapter is kind of poorly written and I'll probably rewrite it eventually. But I'm trying to get to the stuff with Hidgens and my interesting ideas. So yeah, sorry! Thanks for reading!  
> (Can't believe this fic isn't terrible so far)


	4. Professor Hidgens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma, Paul and the gang make it to Hidgens' house. He is not exactly happy about meeting his nephew.

He knew this was coming, he had for twenty-five years. He sat alone in his darkened room, cigarette in hand as he stared at his peeling wallpaper. He didn't need companionship anymore. His life had been reduced to hiding in his bunker, talking to what he perceived as a digital consciousness. He heard humming around the house as he wandered through his hallways. Various people were meandering outside his gates, not actively trying to get into the gates.

  
Henry Hidgens just chuckled to himself as he took a seat in one of his various fortified rooms. The news was playing in the background. He was paying any attention to it as he played with the sleeves of his jacket. He had no issues letting himself rot here. He was right and that was what mattered. He could brag about it later, well if he ever saw humans again. That's why it startled him when he heard the dull, buzzing tone of his intercom. He glared at the device on his wall for a minute, hating the idea that someone may have been trying to get in. It then buzzed again, and he huffed, standing up and making his way to it. He drew his small handgun and answered it, staring at the machine.

  
"Who is it?" He shouted into the receiver, hearing small mumbles on the other end. Multiple people were trying to visit his home. His storage of shotguns should handle that for him. Then a female voice responded, she sounded relatively in control for this situation.

  
“Professor Hidgens-“ the woman started before the elderly man cut her off. 

  
“Don’t lie to me, whoever you are, I’m Professor Hidgens!” He growled, pointing his gun at the intercom, as if he could shoot her through it. There was a childish giggle on the other end, someone clearly found that funny, even if they sounded like an adult man.

  
“No, Professor... it’s me, Emma Perkins.” Emma sighed into her end of the machine, trying to ignore the people behind her. She didn’t know them very well yet, nor did she want to. She had taken note of the odd way the teenager was acting. He was oddly tense as the kid beside him tried to get his attention.

  
“Emma! You came to the right place, hold on! I’ll buzz you in!” Hidgens shouted down the speaker. Emma heard him yell something else, but he’d already moved away from the answering machine, they could just hear him shouting through the walls. Why they had made the decision of coming here and thought it was wise, she couldn’t say. The gates slid open, allowing the group to walk through, all huddled in various clusters. Emma sighed as Paul followed close behind her, looking back to his friends hauling Sam's body. He gave Emma a look, to which she just nodded in response. It was a silent question of if this was a safe idea, something that she could immediately recognise even though she had only known him for a couple days. She weirdly understood Paul already. Yes, he often came off as awkward and obsessive but there were times when she could see that he was truly terrified of the situation. He also had fears and was unsure about Professor Hidgens. Emma would try to make sure he was alright, but her own survival came first right now.

  
Emma slowly pushed open the door to her teacher's house, ushering the group inside. Paul moved past her with a grateful smile, trusting her unconditionally. Ethan and Hannah followed. The boy had his arms around her protectively as they entered, his eyes darting around in distress. Lastly it was Bill, Ted and Charlotte. The two men sidestepping through the doorway with the half-dead cop haphazardly draped across their shoulders, Charlotte was following them, rambling still. She was trying to hold Sam's hand as it rested on Ted's shoulder. The seven slowly found their way into the main living room. It was scarily neat and pristine, it felt almost like a horror film. Then a tall man walked into the room, fixing the jacket he had on.

  
"Oh my god! Thank you, Professor, thank you!" Emma rushed towards the man, grateful as Ted and Bill dumped Sam onto a chair. "Oh! These are my friends, this is Paul... and them." As she gestured to the group, the Professor's eyes immediately locked onto Ethan. He stared at the teenager, a spitting image of himself only slightly impacted by other genetics that weren't from their family. He looked back to Emma and slowly raised his hand to stop her run-on sentences.

  
"I'm sorry, Ms Perkins, I do not believe I can help you, goodbye." He tried to retreat up the stairs in the corner of the room when Emma grabbed his wrist. She hadn't exactly expected him to openly reject helping her, that wasn't how he'd come off to her.

  
"Wait, wait, wait... Professor please." She looked up at the older man, still in panic. "We need your help, this is going to sound crazy but everyone was-" Hidgens cut her off with a loud, overdramatic sigh.

  
"Singing and dancing, like a musical? I know. I've always known." He rolled his eyes and descended the steps once again, to look at the group. "I'm sure you're all lovely people, but I cannot help you today, you specifically." He nodded his head in Ethan's general direction, causing all eyes to shift to him. He sighed and cleared his throat, stepping away from Hannah.

  
"It's fine... I understand why you wouldn't want to." Ethan was trying his best to not let his stirring feelings of anger interrupt his calm tone. "But, just listen to what she's saying, Professor. I know you felt like shutting yourself in and all, but you're kinda the only psychotic doomsday prepper we know." He shrugged, moving closer to his uncle who was now glaring at him.

  
"How dare you. You do not come into my home, ask for my help, then call me crazy. Goodbye Ethan." The man stared down the teenager. He already knew his name from the stupid birth announcements he'd received years ago. He only had one male family member in Hatchetfield. 

  
"Ok, great! So, you're going to run from your family, then proceed to not help innocent individuals because I'm with them. I'd call that maturity really." Ethan mocked as he walked closer. "Apparently you don't only hate your family." That caused Professor Hidgens' anger to boil over.

  
"I do not hate you! Or anyone- well certain other members of the college staff- but no one else!" Henry shouted at him, beginning to advance on his nephew, forcing him to cower slightly. "I did everything I could have to help people in this situation, I warned the press, they said nothing. Get out of my fucking house and tell your mother to never call me again!" He hadn't realised the impact the ending of his sentence would have on the teenager.

  
"She's dead, you fucking asshole!" Ethan immediately drew his fist back and tried to slam it into Henry's face. The other man shifted out of the way of the fist as he heard the sound of crying and running. The pair looked over to see the group staring after a sobbing Hannah.

  
"That was well done guys." Ted smirked as he leant against the back of one of the recliners, giving the pair a thumbs up. Bill just tapped him gently on the shoulder and reprimanded him quietly. Ethan just rolled his eyes and sighed, looking after Hannah. He mumbled curses under his breath as he followed the girl.

  
"And a teenage father too, I'm so proud." The professor mused sarcastically as he watched Ethan leave before turning back to the group. "Now all of you get out of here, I don't need to deal with people right now." He tried to wave them off as Emma silently huffed and shook her head.

  
"I, uh, I don't want to get involved in your family drama, but we really need help. Professor, please, we need you to help us with Sam... Be can't get to the hospital." She gestured to the uniformed man lying in the chair with his wife crouched beside him, gripping his hand. The Professor followed her indication and immediately drew his gun, pointing it at the man on the chair.

  
"Good god! Don't tell me you brought one of them here!" Hidgens shouted at the group, moving his gun sporadically, pointing it at each member of the group. There were random screams from the group, all five of them trying to move away from the barrel of the gun.

  
"I told you we should have left him in the alley!" Ted shouted, glaring around at the group.

  
"You're a monster Ted!" Charlotte screamed back, once again, wrapping her arms around Ted who shoved her away.

  
"No! He's a monster!" He glared at her, frantically pointing at the man in the chair. Paul sighed a little as she watched. Charlotte clearly had a type, and that upset Paul. He wanted his co-worker to be alright for once. Ted and Sam clearly weren't what she deserved. He sighed and looked down, silently gripping onto Emma. Blocking out any more sound.

  
The professor started shouting once again, ranting and raving about random topics. The man just watched as his co-workers handcuffed Sam and Hidgens singled Emma out, it was getting too much for him. He grabbed Emma's arm again, frowning.

  
"I'm going to go check on the kids... I'll be back." He looked at his new friend who smiled slightly and nodded, trying to calm her professor as he started leading everyone off, into another room. As Paul left, he only noticed Ted and Charlotte remaining in the room. He thought none of it as he went through the hallway again, looking for the kids.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is out kind of late today! My posting might become slightly slower due to tomorrow being a very busy day for me. The first three chapters were up quickly because of pre-writing. I'm trying to post once a day but we'll see how I go! Tomorrow will be a shorter chapter focused on Ethan, Hannah and Paul. Thanks for reading! I really appreciate it :)


	5. The voices in her head

Hannah was shaking as she made her way through the twisted halls of Professor Hidgens' house, tears running down her face. Her mind was a mess of fear and embarrassment. She could still here the familiar voices in her head, echoing back thoughts between them. She finally found a spare bedroom, collapsing into a chair and rubbing her eyes anxiously. There was something about this group of people. The Professor was causing too many questions, but all that the voices had to say was his name, repeated and louder each time. His importance was becoming clearer and clearer to her, she just continued shaking as she sat there.

Seeing Ethan become violent frightened her the most. She could tell that it wasn't his fault, his uncle was in the wrong. But something about seeing Ethan try to hit him made her uncomfortable. She wanted her sister, she wanted to go home, she wanted to feel safe. Lex made her feel safe. She then felt a chill run down her spine, one voice began screaming at her. She closed her eyes and covered her ears, but that only made the noise louder.

"Lexi... Blue..." Hannah repeated as the words rattled around in her head. She knew that it was bad. Something had happened to her sister, something sinister. But no one would listen. No one ever listened to her. She slowly moved her hands from her ears, listening to anything she could hear in the house. Talking, the professor, Emma, footsteps. She tensed as the footsteps came closer to the room she was in. She watched as the handle turned and she could see the sleeve of a leather jacket. Ethan looked around the corner at her.

"Hey Banana... You alright?" He asked as he fully stepped into the room, locking the door behind him. He sighed quietly when she shook her head and knelt beside the chair she was sat in. Hannah gripped his hand immediately, looking down.

"Something happened to Lex." She mumbled, looking him in the eyes. She didn't really know what had happened, but she could feel that her sister was in pain, somewhere. Ethan frowned and sighed. The girl just nodded in acceptance; he didn't believe her. 

"She's at the school... She'll be safe." Ethan sighed and looked up at her. He knew he was just making assumptions, but he didn't want to alarm Hannah. Lex may not have made it to the school, she was probably out there, wandering in the streets. She was probably trying to find them. He just wanted to make sure Hannah as safe. But there was someone else with the same intentions. The door opened again and one of the men from earlier entered the room.

"Hey, kids..." Paul greeted awkwardly as he looked at the two. "I came to check on you, the Professor was a little... Intense." They could both see that Paul was trying to interact so they both nodded along, avoiding eye contact. They both had a mutual feeling of indifference towards Paul. He sat down on the nearby bed to talk anyway.

"Yeah, I think Hannah and I are going to get out of here soon. I don't want my Uncle to kick you guys out." Ethan huffed as he stood up, stretching and letting go of Hannah. He was trying his best to keep up his tough exterior around others, even though Hannah knew he wasn't like that.

Hannah whined a little, hugging her knees as she watched the two men talk. The voices in her head hadn't become quieter, but what they were saying had changed. Awake. Singing. Monster. In here. The same five words screamed like a warning at the thirteen-year-old, expecting her to act from fear. She looked at Paul and softly repeated the words. Something was telling her to trust Paul, and she did as told. The man looked to Ethan who shrugged, as confused as Paul was.

"I told you, she hears things." Ethan sighed and looked at Hannah. "It's going to be ok... No more singing, no monsters. We're safe, for now. Then both of us can go to the trailer, we need to wait this out." Hannah shook her head.

"Go back... We need to go back for them." She frantically pointed to the door, getting up and moving towards it. The pair behind her got up as well. Ethan's hand cautiously resting on her shoulder as he spoke to her. But Hannah paid no attention as she pulled the rickety wooden door open and stepped out into the hall. There was singing at the other side. A man. The cop. She turned back to the pair behind her, the reality finally dawning on them. Ethan pulled Hannah close as Paul's eyes went wide, taking a few steps forward.

"Charlotte." He mumbled as he broke off at a run, dashing down the hall to the living room they had originally been brought into. The sight that awaited him was horrifying. Sam had stopped singing, looking down at Charlotte's body that was now a bloodied mess, draped across one of the arms of the couch. Sam was chuckling manically to himself, hand soaked in his wife's blood as he gleefully disembowelled her. Paul felt like he was about to throw up as he watched. He gripped the corner of the wall, pale as he stared. He felt Ethan and Hannah approach him from behind and panicked. Paul looked at the kids, unsure on what to say.

"Who's there?" Ethan asked as he stepped around the corner, right into Sam's eyeline and earshot. The three stared in horror as the man in front of them looked over, straightening up with a sick smile growing on his face. He slowly pulled his glasses away from his eyes, revealing no iris, pupil or sclera, just a swimming sea of blue, seemingly seeping and oozing out of the sockets. The man chuckled and stepped forward again.

"We've been waiting for you..." He took a step closer as Hannah's eyes travelled past the walking corpse in front of them to Charlotte on the couch. Her innards were slowly falling out and new ones were growing, made of blue slime. Her eyes soon tore open, staring over at the three. Sam smirked and turned his attention away from them to wrap an arm around his wife's waist. She giggled before fixing her eyes on Hannah and letting out a single high-pitched note. Sam reaching forward to wrap a hand around Ethan's throat.

Despite Professor Hidgens' planning, the aliens were loose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant for this to just be a short chapter expanding on Hannah and the way she sees the situation but then I wrote the ending! Oh well.


	6. Join us and Die

Ethan let out a small choking sound as Sam clenched his hand around the teenager's neck, lifting him with more unnatural strength. He struggled as he was pressed into a wall. He could hear Charlotte singing, advancing on Hannah and Paul, who were both screaming messes. But he couldn't focus on it. Tears were beginning to fall at the crushing pressure of the hand on his throat. He struggled in pure terror. He tried to kick at Sam who chuckled and tightened his grip. The man was prepared to kill the minor, he probably would have done that regardless, even without the strange blue liquid coursing through his veins at that moment.

That's when Ethan noticed something particular, a blue, pulsing point in Sam's neck, a build-up of the goo inside his body. That was what he was pinning his hope on. Ethan drove his knee up into the spot in the man's neck, hoping it was some kind of location of pain. He was right. Sam's grip loosened slightly, the visible veins in his neck going to a vivid blue as he almost dropped the boy. Sam managed to keep his hold, but Ethan moved his head slightly, the grip not as painfully tight as before. He could see Charlotte now. She was backing Paul back into the hall, separating him from any hopes of help. Hannah was just staring straight at Charlotte, trying to figure out the situation. Paul was holding her now, having picked her up when his co-worker neared him.

The singing got louder as Sam managed to pull himself back into the moment, smirking up at Ethan, pressing his fingers into his victim's throat harder. He knew that the teenager couldn't breathe, deriving sick enjoyment from preparing to suffocate him and snap his neck. Ethan felt his breath and all senses beginning to leave him, gripping Sam's wrist. He could see the blurry image of Paul trying to shove Charlotte away from him and Hannah. He knew that these adults could protect her better than he and Lex ever would be able to. 

Then his state of unconscious was broken by a gunshot. The only thing he could comprehend was the release of pressure on his neck as he slumped to the ground, letting out ragged breaths and coughs. There was another loud note ringing through his ears as another gunshot joined the wall of sound. His senses were slowly returning, he could only smell smoke and the odd smell of the blood that was seeping into the couch. Ethan tried to force himself up slightly, looking around for the source of the gunshot. 

"Fucking bastards." Professor Hidgens grunted, kicking at Sam's now limp body, watching the acid-like substance seep from the corpse. He looked down at his nephew, moving the cigarette to the side of his mouth, allowing him to talk more clearly. "You shouldn't have come here. Really, Ethan, you should have listened to me for once in your life." He glared down at him, tugging him up with a single hand.

Ethan tried to speak, but he couldn't. He coughed once again, trying to clear his throat once again. He might have been using it as a way of stalling. He couldn't come up with the words to explain himself. He didn't know what to say to the only family member he knew he still had. His found family didn't count.

* * *

  
The rest of the group had been upstairs, blissfully unaware of the chaos occurring downstairs. They'd gone up into the Professor's kitchen, Emma still reprimanding him for the way he handled the situation with Ethan.

"Don't take it out on us, Professor." She looked at her teacher, sat on one of the bar stools. "He has that kid with him, you can't make us leave. She won't survive. You've lectured me for years about how your single goal if you were right-"

"I was right." He cut her off, focused on lighting his cigarette. Emma just rolled her eyes and continues.

"Yes, you were, whatever." She huffed and tapped her fingers on the bench. "You told me that you wanted people to believe you, for them to protect themselves. Practice what you preach." She noticed Ted entering the room, his usual, unpleasant expression was contorted into an even more sour grimace. She supposed he was the source of some of the yelling from downstairs. Emma sighed and looked back to the older man; he was also watching the human personification of horniness wandering around the room.

"You can stay. As long as the others stay out of my way." Henry turned back to Emma, looking down at her. "And as long as you help me. I can't exactly take down a whole alien race by myself, as much as I'd like to. But, ground rules. I want nothing to do with my sister's son, and you will not force me to." 

"I won't, Jesus Christ." Emma got up, frustrated. She could deal with Hidgens in classes, but this situation was stressful enough without him putting on his teacher voice with her. She looked over to Ted, who was busy pulling bottles from Hidgens' mini fridge. He still seemed frustrated, but he was softening slightly, thinking about something. The tallest of the men in the room noticed the eyes on him and looked over at Emma. His sneer turned into a smirk as he raised his eyebrows.

"See something you like?" He asked, opening the bottle currently in his hand. Emma gagged as she looked at him.

"In your dreams, you sick fuck." She flipped him off as Ted snorted a little, turning his focus back to his drink. The barista sighed as she got up. She wandered to the stairwell, standing just above it and trying to eavesdrop on whoever was down there. She almost hoped it was Paul, she still had some things to figure out about him. There was a soft melody. She shook her head a little. This wasn't happening, the kids were probably playing music. But then she could hear a female voice, giggling and laughing along. She glanced back to the others.

"What is it, Emma?" Bill asked approaching her. She supposed he was the nicest of the group. He also froze when he heard the noises. "Do we tell the professor...?" He looked to her. She guessed that they had to.

* * *

  
Paul pushed himself away from the table he had been backed into, holding Hannah as Charlotte crumpled to the ground. He was hyperventilating as he looked around the room. The professor was standing over Ethan, holding his shotgun close. The other three were on the stairs, staring around the disgusting, blood covered room. Paul tried to calm himself down as Hannah struggled a little, trying to run to Ethan.

"Professor... You killed Charlotte." Emma spoke up, drawing Paul's attention to her. She didn't even consider Sam's body, just Charlotte's. The old man shook his head, denying Emma's complaint.

"You shot her!" Paul chimed in as he looked down at her, putting Hannah down. He still felt sick about it. The guts that had formed were laying across the floor, eyes open as the blue goo drained from the sockets. The infection leaving her corpse to find a new host. The Professor had just let out a low chuckle at Paul's comment.

"I shot a charlatan!" He looked around the room, looking for approval. Not a single other noise left the group, not even Ted enjoyed the joke. The professor tolled his eyes and continued. "The charlotte you knew and loved was gone the minute a note came out of her mouth." He continued his explanation as Paul tuned his out, beginning to shake a little.

The mood of the room had dropped completely. Everyone was staring at the floor, considering what all of this meant. Yes, they had seen Sam and the infected cops, but they had never thought about the possibility of one of them ending up like the rest of Hatchetfield. It was a sobering reality for Paul. His worst fear was realised, the whole world was crashing down around him, and he was left with a bumbling group of, well, he wouldn't say idiots. He was as bad as they were. He was finally able to tear his eyes away from Charlotte's corpse and over to the others. Professor Hidgens had stopped talking and was looking at Bill, in fact everyone was. He was talking softly into his phone. Paul managed to catch the end of it.

"Alice. Listen to me, you get away from her you understand? You get far away. No, this has nothing to do with me not liking Deb. Right now, you need to run and hide. Okay? Where are you? No, no, you stay there. I’m coming to you. No, no, don’t- don’t you say… Everything’s going to be fine. I love you too." Bill sighed and slid his phone into his pocket, staring at the ground for a moment before raising his head to the apologetic group. "Give me, give me, some bread and some water- I knew we were going to need a designated driver!" The man was immediately in hysterics, wringing his hands.

"What's happening Bill?" Paul moved closer, placing a hand on Bill's shoulder. Bill was the only person he had genuine compassion for.

"It's Alice, she's stuck in Hatchetfield. Dang it! I need to take the car, she’s in Hatchetfield High, she’s locked herself in the choir room." Bill pulled away from his friend, beginning to pace. Ted opened his mouth to speak, face changing from hurt to teasing. But he was cut off by Ethan.

"Alice Fletcher..." He frowned and looked at Bill. "She's in my class. I can go with you; I know how to tangle with most of the kids at school." The teenager put his hands in his pockets. Paul could tell it was only for self-gain, but he seemed genuinely concerned.

"Yes. That's her." Bill smiled a little. "We should go then..." The man was clearly under the impression that it was just him and Ethan, then Emma stepped forward.

"Well, hey, let’s go, if we haul ass we can be there and back in twenty minutes." She grabbed Paul's arms, causing him to just nod. Oh, he was involved now too. He would go for Emma and Bill.

"No, Emma, you stay here." Professor Hidgens also joined the group in the centre of the room. "I have a theory on how these aliens can be stopped, but I’ll need an extra pair of hands in the lab… Paul… Bill… Ethan. Godspeed." The man hadn't his shotgun to Paul before pulling away and going back upstairs. Paul sighed a little and started towards the exit, the others following behind. As Emma stopped Paul, Hannah stopped her sister's boyfriend.

"I'm coming." She stared up at him, expression nothing but defiance. "You can't save Lex alone." Hannah had a tight grip on his jacket, refusing to let him go.

"Fine..." He knew how irresponsible this plan was, but he couldn't convince her otherwise, she wanted to go. She probably knew the risks. He looked over to Paul and Bill. "Let's go?"

"Let's go." Paul sighed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Even though this is technically have way through the show, we're nowhere near halfway yet. (At least I think) I'm not going to post for the next two days as it is a weekend for me and I'm going to prewrite a bunch because my classes are about to start up again.


	7. Hatchetfield High

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains some pretty graphic mentions of how students were murdered, so uh, be careful, violence!

Ethan followed Paul and Bill as the four slunk through the shadows of what was left of the town. He silently noted the smashed windows, crashed cars and streaks of blue blood up the walls of the streets. It was weirdly deserted, the infected having abandoned the richer neighbourhoods to cluster in downtown. He could see very few infected citizens, some skulking by entrances to essential services. There was a tall man, standing in front of the police station, tie around his head. There were various others nearby. There was another man outside the doctor’s office as well, on his phone. None of them were looking at the group.

"Fucking weirdos." Ethan mumbled to himself, pulling Hannah closer to his side. He could feel her shaking against him as she stared at the ground. He was an idiot for bringing her and he knew that. Lex would probably try to kill him for putting Hannah in harm’s way, but he's felt like he had to. Hannah would have not let him leave otherwise. The three of them would get out of Hatchetfield, together, go somewhere and they'd all be safe. They probably would make it out. Probably.

He looked forward at Bill and Paul, who were both whispering to each other in hushed panic as they lead the group, holding the shotgun. Bill was still clearly panicked about everything in this situation. The man hated the thought of his daughter being in trouble, especially at the hands of Deb, a girl he personally considered to be unstable and unhealthy for his daughter. Ethan could tell that much from passing conversations with the two girls. He never particularly cared about Alice's personal life. It became just another thing he knew about the people of Hatchetfield. Eavesdropping and bullying tended to have benefits in that aspects. He could use almost everything to his advantage.

Ethan didn't consider himself that bad of a person. He had different priorities, if he got away from the town in the long run, what he did here didn't matter. His actions were incidental. He looked up as he dug one hand into his pocket. He stared up at the looming building that they were wandering towards. The lights were out, and the carparks were deserted, teachers having rushed home after the infection started spreading. He prayed it hadn't got in, the students having run out of the building and gotten to safety. But that was an almost worst alternative. That would mean that Lex wasn't safe, that she had been wandering the streets when everyone got violent. She could have followed in Charlotte's footsteps, carved up by fellow students or random adults of Hatchetfield. The school was the best bet. She could be safe with Alice, helping the girl fend off Deb. Lex would be the only one who could. He hoped at least.

"All of you stay behind me..." Paul sighed, gently pushing up the staff lounge window, looking in to make sure it was empty. "We all need to stay quiet in there." He had accidentally become the group's unofficial leader from the moment they met in the alley. Hannah already trusting him unconditionally. As much as that irked Ethan. 

"We understand, look, you and Bill take Hannah, I'll run interference with Deb." Ethan offered as he followed Paul through the window in the surprisingly clean and dark room. Tables were impossibly neat, without the usual papers and underpaid teachers filling the room. He carefully pulled Hannah through the window, hugging her for what he thought may be the final time, if this didn't work. Bill sighed and nodded a little.

"Ok, promise us you won't give in?" He asked, gently grabbing Hannah's flannel and pulling her towards himself and Paul. "I want my daughter back, but not at the cost of you, or anyone." Bill started towards the door, looking out of the small window at the top of the door. He stared into the dark, linoleum floored hallway.

"I'll be ok. Save Alice, she's in my shop class, she's a good person, I guess." Ethan sighed and his played with the slightly torn sleeves of his jacket. "Stay safe." He pressed down on the door handle and pushed it open, stepping out of the room, dreading the loud screech of the door behind him. He huffed and turned to the others. He pointed down the direction of the choir room, mouthing 'stay safe' to them before taking off, making his way down the other hall, hoping to catch not only Deb but his girlfriend as well.

The walls were still plastered with cheesy school posters, promoting unity, school spirit and all the other things Ethan didn't believe in. It was an eerie feeling to see the halls and spaces he was so familiar with deserted, in the middle of day as well. His eyes scanned all the familiar elements before landing on an electric blue handprint against the plastic case around a bulletin board. There was another splatter of the substance there too. Then he made the mistake of looking into the office beside it. There lay in principal, throat slashed, and his own, still very red, blood coming from his gouged-out eyes. There was a paper weight on the ground with the creature's blood smeared across it. He had clearly tried to protect himself. Perhaps that was why he hadn't been turned; they didn't give him the dignity of reanimation. They seemed to be thinking about hurting those who wronged them. That terrified Ethan even more as he left the office in a state of panic.

Why had the world come to this? Why did no one listen to Professor Hidgens when he predicted it? Well, not even Ethan believed him when he heard about his unhinged uncle. God damnit. He could have at least been a better boyfriend. Tried a bit harder to get the only two people he loved out. He sighed louder, still trying to keep a little hushed as he heard another voice nearby, soft humming and singing. No, not one, multiple, coming toward him, voices becoming louder. He cursed to himself. Why did he let Paul and Bill take the gun? He should have thought about himself, but they had Hannah. It was a decision he really could never make. He flattened up against the wall, hoping his jacket helped him blend into the shadows cast against the floor.

Around the corner came a girl, slightly younger than him because being held back had some letdowns. She was brandishing one of the school's baseball bats, followed by two boys he recognised as his own common targets, his cousin and the hyperactive boy's best friend. Ethan lowered himself slightly, trying to make himself smaller and less threatening as Grace, Oliver and Monty passed him. He took notes on their appearances. Grace's shoulder had a long slice through it, so deep that the muscles and bone would have been visible if she were still human, the insides were just a pulsing, dripping ocean of blue. The boys didn't look much better, matching, discoloured scars across their foreheads and spreading back across their heads. Whatever treatment these three had been put through by the other infected was cruel, perhaps torturous. He hated the thought of himself or Lex ending up like that. The three passed him, unaware of his presence. Then they stopped dead in the centre of the hall. 

"Deb?" Grace called out musically as they stood there, waiting. The two boys beside her were turning shards of glass. The three of them were searching for signs of their classmate. Ethan frowned. Deb seemed to now be in a position of power, it was a strange shift from how normal days at this school operated. He shuddered slightly as he saw glowing blue eyes reflected in the office window nearby. That was beyond unsettling, but what chilled him to the bone was the realisation that the eyes were right behind him as an icy hand wrapped around his wrist with abnormal firmness.

"Hey, babe. Great to see you again." Lex whispered as she stepped into the light. Her whole body was an illuminated, cut up mess. viscous knife slices covered her stomach and face as she looked at her boyfriend with a devilishly perfect smile. He tried to back away but soon realised the other students had moved behind him. He was caught.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this didn't end well for anyone. Thanks for reading! I'm going to be a bit slow as I get back into classwork over the next few days but I'll try my best to update consistently.


	8. An odd source of guidance

_Useless. Inconclusive. Confusing. Results mixed. Inhuman and human simultaneously. I do believe that the humans are still in the bodies. They're alive and kicking, buried beneath the layers of discipline to an outside force. I'd love to see everyone who said I was wrong's faces now-_

Henry sighed and crossed out his last sentence, that wasn't fair. He had been around so few people in his life that it had only just occurred to him, thanks to his current guests, that not everyone was as aware of things as him. He was the cleverest person he knew. The man sighed, bracing his hands against the cold, metal table in front of him. Charlotte's body was still there, leaking the blue gore onto the surface. He only felt slightly guilty as he looked at the bullet hole in her forehead. This wasn’t her anymore. Some sick imitation but not the real thing. That was why he knew he could sleep peacefully when he made the choice to kill her. No one would care.

He sighed once again as he slowly took his gloves off and stood up, gently pulling a sheet over her body. He locked his lab and started up the staircase, rattling the keys anxiously in his left hand. He didn’t truly understand why Emma had come to him. Yes, he was a genius in his area but very few ever took him seriously. And he wasn’t a fan of these “friends” she brought with her.

He found Paul slightly too awkward. The man was tall and gangly, the professor found his fine line nature between clueless and pedantic frustrating. The other man they had brought with him was mildly likeable. Hidgens couldn’t help but feel true worry about that man’s daughter. From his own experiences, he knew how tragic the waste of a young life could be. He had also thought very little about Charlotte. The woman was nice, but he had known the moment she entered that she wouldn’t survive. Constant panicking wasn’t useful.

Lastly, there was the man Henry now saw as he made his way into the brightly lit kitchen. The man drowning himself in lukewarm beer and the small amounts of tears that the professor could see in his eyes. That was an odd contrast to how confident and vulgar the creep was earlier. Henry tried to think of possible events that could have led to the drastic change. But then the two eyes, now fixed on him and expressing nothing but pain, explained all.

“I don’t want to hear it.” Ted mumbled, gripping the bottle tight. “I can tell what you’re going to say, and it won’t change anything. Woopty-fucking-doo, an innocent woman is dead. We’re all going to clearly be fine.” He huffed; genuine remorse was all Henry could see. Ted was shielding himself from something.

“I don’t expect you to be immediately better... She was a co-worker and friend.” Hidgens hoped it might draw a reaction. He couldn’t help that he tended to gravitate towards disfunction. That was another thing that Ted was the living embodiment of.

“Fuck off.” The moustached man growled. “You’re fucked in the head if you can’t see what was going on. You should have saved her from herself, that’s why we came to you after all. For safety. Hell, not even the kids wanted to come here, but we told them it'd be safe, and they came. No one wanted you to be involved.” Ted’s light snort after the remark hurt Henry more than if should have, prompting him to also take a seat on a barstool.

“Ethan shouldn’t have wanted to come here, at least he listened.” He could pretend that staying isolated was what he wanted but it was weak of him, nonetheless. He should explain everything to his nephew. And he would if he ever got the chance. Didn't seem like he would now.

“I mean, you seem to hate his guts. So, I understand why he wasn’t super hyped about coming.” Ted shrugged, weirdly observant when under the influence. “You did start talking about his family, I could tell they were dead just from looking at the state of him.” He chuckled slightly. That was Ted's other secret superpower other than seducing married women. He would have said something stupid like 'you can tell a lot about a person from their appearance.' but he wasn't a twelve-year-old and had enough self-respect to not lower himself to cheesy metaphors.

"That isn't very fair Ted, -" Henry started to attempt explaining himself but the other man cut him off with a snicker. Henry wasn't going to get a chance to explain himself.

"Nothing is fucking fair, is it?" He asked, playing the bottle down on the bench nearby. "See, look at me. Charlotte is- was a passably attractive woman, and, yes, I know I'm barely a step up from her douchebag of a husband, but I would have clearly treated her better. That's what I mean, there's no point in trying to be good, or trying to do right by anyone. Your nephew hates you, deal with it and move on. It's not like he's coming back." For a simple creature of anger and toxic masculinity, Ted knew how to drive home a point. A point punctuated by him opening yet another bottle.

"That's not exactly the outlook I was hoping for." Hidgens sighed and looked around the room. The empty spaces for family photos had been filled by paintings of random islands and other things Henry had no relationship with.

"Oh, do you want a positive one?" Ted asked with faux cheer. "How about how lovely the sky looks and- fuck you, you're not getting one! There are no happy endings. Nothing good is going to happen. Whatever dreams you have, forget it. Hate to be the bearer of bad news but you're not getting out of Hatchetfield. No one is."

"I know." Hidgens sighed and nodded, drawing the handgun from his pocket. He almost took joy in how Ted jumped slightly. He didn't mean anything by it, other than his new plan.

"What the fuck are you doing man?" Ted stared in confusion, putting his half empty bottle down. Henry shrugged, beginning to lock cupboards, he didn't need Ted to find certain things.

"I'm going to save my nephew."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fuck this is short


	9. Back at the high school

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: This chapter is really gory. Child murder? That’s all I can really explain. Don’t read if if gore makes you uncomfortable! (This chapter was really hard to write for me as well)

The floor was almost freezing as Ethan was thrown to his knees in an empty classroom. The blinds were drawn shut to prevent light from entering, the boy would suffer in the darkness until the infected got what they wanted from him. He let his eyes follow the patterns on the ground, not letting them wander to the smears of blue blood leading to Lex's walking corpse, sat on the desk in front of him. She was lazily playing with one of the bats, just like Grace had, and humming to herself. He tried not to look at the deep slashes caused by someone else here. This wasn't girlfriend, she was gone and never coming back. His eyes went back to the patterns. Blocking out every other sense he had, then she started speaking.

"You shouldn't have resisted. I'm going to fix you; it's going to be ok." Lex's voice had a lilting tone to it, melodic as she slowly stepped towards him. "I know you're scared of me... You shouldn't be. Everything will be better, no more parents controlling my life. Once it spreads, we can get to California together. Don't you want that?" She was trying to manipulate him even more than earlier, circling him in sick joy. He wanted it to be over. Why wouldn't she just end it?

"You can infect me, you know?" He huffed quietly, still not looking up. "You got what you wanted, I'm here, I have no way out." He still had Hannah, but Paul and Bill could protect her. If they got her and Alice out, nothing else mattered. Except perhaps, that Lex was here, he could be with her again. But that meant giving up his life. He didn't think he was ready for that.

"We have some more plans darling..." Lex had stopped pacing now, lowering herself to force Ethan to look at her. "I know Hannah is here too. The hive wants her to join us, and we will get her. Well, who you know as Alice, will." She let out another small giggle, such an unnatural sound for the oldest Foster sister.

"Don't you dare hurt Hannah; I will kill you." Ethan threatened, finally making eye contact with Lex's bloodied corpse. He flinched slightly at the sight again, he could see her bones peeking through the holes in her body and clothing. The area where her stomach would be was almost hollowed out. The blue shade grotesque and abnormal against the texture of her eroded flesh.

"We aren't hurting her... I'm saving her. She wants me back; she's saying it now." Lex looked up a little, focusing on the information being shared through the Hivemind. "You wanna hear what they're saying? Paul, Bill, Hannah?" She was having far too much fun torturing him with the thought of what might happen. Not giving him the immediate death, he wanted.

"Let them go." Ethan begged his infected girlfriend, digging his nails into his legs. He wanted to turn; he really did. He had to stay strong. He couldn't let her break him. He looked up at the oozing blue acid coming out of her eyes. It made him think back to Sam. He was mentally back in Professor Hidgens’ house, choking to death, he could feel a ghost of Sam’s hand slowly crushing his windpipe. He shuddered, it was a disgusting and sickening feeling. He wanted to get out of this room, make sure Hannah was safe. But he couldn’t with Lex leaning on the bat, playing with the stitched handle.

“Hannah’s screaming for you now... she just saw death Ethan... you should go to her; she needs you and I.” Lex had vicious grin and a sadistic enjoyment. "Don't you want to be with me, and her? The three us forever. The hive will give you that. We'd rule alongside each other. You could get all the revenge you so desire, you could torment everyone here again. Come on." Then she flinched, jumping slightly. It was a reaction he had seen too many times, but no one was here to hurt her. Maybe Paul had been able to kill other members, maybe Hannah was getting out. Then he heard a gunshot, loud and coming towards him. They would save him. They could get him. Lex faltered a little as she heard the gunshots, tensing even more. She stepped away from her boyfriend and towards the door, raising the bat.

"Help!" Ethan shouted, hoping whoever was coming was an ally. Paul, Bill, he'd settle for one of the others they left at the house. "Help me please!" He shouted louder before shrinking under Lex's gaze as she turned back to him. She was still waiting by the door, apprehensive as she prepared to strike. Her connections had seemingly been severed for a moment, then she snapped back to reality and childishly snickered.

"They didn't get here this time!" She pulled open the door, revealing four distinct shadows and a distinct sobbing sound. Hannah was being dragged in by Alice and Deb, followed by Grace who was playing with a shotgun. The one his uncle had given the group.

"I killed off the army rats for you!" Grace giggled as she watched the others practically shoved Hannah down towards Ethan, who immediately hugged her tightly. She was shaking, mumbling more nonsense into his sleeve. It wasn't nonsense, he knew it. She had known everything. He looked back up at Lex, who settled back at her seat on the table. The other three girls clustered in front her, each explaining the situation that had just transpired. Ethan decided to hear it from Hannah, ignore the infected.

"Banana split? It's ok, you're safe with me... Where are Bill and Paul?" He asked softly, brave enough to move slightly, enough to hold her as tightly as he could, trying to protect the young girl.

"Bill. Dead. Paul. Escape..." She whispered, leaning against him, too afraid to look up. The idea of hiding and fearing violence wasn't new to her but the thought of her sister inflicting the violence made her feel sick. Ethan could protect her. She knew he could. He was stronger than Lex was. Nothing would happen to her. She was trying to convince herself, but the voices immediately started screaming, shouting and trying to shatter her fragile brain. The hivemind wanted her. They were going to use her abilities. Ethan wouldn't let them, but he couldn't stop what was inevitable.

"Grab her." Lex commanded, loud enough for the pair on the ground to hear as she pushed herself up. Hannah began letting out broken sobs and screams as Alice and Grace tugged her back, pulling her towards a table Deb was pulling into the centre of the room.

"No! Don't you dare fucking hurt her!" Ethan shouted and vaulted to his feet, pushing himself up and trying to overpower the zombified versions of his classmates. Then he felt Lex bring the bat down against his spine, crying out as he dropped back to the ground. Again, and again, the wooden bat was beating against his back, not letting up until he was sure he felt his spine begin to crack. He braced for another beating but it didn't come. He stared up at Lex with blurry, tear filled eyes. She smiled in a false, kind manner. He gestured for Grace and Alice to go to Ethan, approaching her screaming younger sister.

“Lexie! Please!” Hannah sobbed, tear tracks streaming down her face, watching other teenagers restrain Ethan. It was just her and her sister. She kept screaming, sobbing as her hair was pulled, it felt like Lex was trying to tear it out of her skull. Then she saw the dagger, glinting in the hand of the girl once known as Deb. The 13-year-old writhed, trying to escape.

“It’s ok Hannah... We’re saving you...” Lex whispered to her, looking back to her struggling boyfriend on the ground. “Watch this Ethe... I promise you’ll enjoy it. You were the one who always called her crazy.” She took the knife, turning it once in her hand and bringing it to her sister’s chest.

“Lex... No... Please...” Hannah silenced her cries, trying to get through to her sister.

“Nighty night Banana...” Lex smirked, stabbing the knife to the left of Hannah’s heart, slicing across as blood bubbled around it, the small girl’s eyes rolling back as she screamed out, Ethan crying out with her. The knife cut through Hannah’s skin, bones cracked, and organs sliced apart. Soon Lex removed a perfect square chunk from Hannah’s body, throwing it to Ethan.

He looked down at the bleeding cube, it resting beside his knees. It was layers of skin, tissue, bone and blood, Hannah’s heart the crowning jewel of the bleeding mass. He felt sick. Hannah's body was limp as Ethan stared up at it, blood drenching her shirt and the flannel Ethan had given her, seeping and oozing wherever it could. He couldn't scream anymore. He could only sob and struggle, trying to avoid the sight of the gore that remained of Hannah.

"Aren't you happy babe? Now it's just you and me." Lex smirked wickedly, the blue goo sliming its way down from the slits around her mouth. She turned the dagger in her hand again, bringing it back to Hannah, dragging the blade lightly across her forehead. "We could cut her up a little more, don't you think?" She kept giggling to herself as she stared at her dead sister.

"Lex... It's not you, please.... Whatever you are, leave her body, don't hurt Hannah, please..." He begged quietly, refusing to look up at the sisters. "You are not my girlfriend." He glared over at her, fists clenching as Alice and Grace gripped onto him. He tried to shake their weak hold, but he couldn't. He knew what things meant now, even if Henry hadn't pinpointed exactly what had taken over Lex's body.

"Sorry babe...." Lex shrugged before stabbing her blade through Hannah's skull, bones cracking and blood spraying out as Lex made careful incisions around Hannah's head, trying to achieve something. There was a complacent look on Hannah's face, she didn't know what was being done to her now that she was gone. Soon Lex reached into her open head. She looked Ethan directly in the eyes as she pulled Hannah's brain out.

That broke him, he shook, he couldn't breathe, he was dizzy, he was going to be sick. He let out soft whimpers, truly weak. Hannah and Lex were all he had. They protected him, as much as he did them. They kept him grounded. Lex had gone with him to the funeral, Hannah had too, as much as the atmosphere of death and hopelessness was hard for her. He would have killed, stolen and done anything necessary to see them both smile for once. He would never get to see Hannah finish school, overcome her disabilities. He'd never get to see his and Lex's future. All of that had been ripped away from him by the apocalypse. His girls were both dead. He was never getting them back.

* * *

But what Ethan didn't know, was the man driving through the streets of Hatchetfield. A van, that was most definitely illegal to drive, mowed down residents of the town. Henry's foot slammed against the accelerator as he fixed his eyes on the school in the distance. He wouldn't let this happen. He knew he was short-sighted. He had let them go; they weren't adequately armed. He needed to save Paul, Bill and Hannah. He needed to apologise to Ethan. He needed to tell Ethan everything. He glanced away from the wheel for a short moment. Ted was in the passenger seat, Emma sat behind them. They were going to get that group out. They had the know-how, the stubborn muscle and a getaway driver. They had all they needed. Professor Hidgens wasn't going down without a fight. None of them were.


	10. Burning

"How are we going about this?" Professor Hidgens asked as he pulled the van over by the school, making sure to stay slightly hidden. They didn't want to draw the attention of the infected. All he wanted was to finally get a chance at having a family. Well, almost. He was still in shock about learning of the death of his sister, He wouldn't let his son follow in her footsteps. He had Emma and Ted as back up, it would be fine.

"You get them out. Emma and I will wait here to drive off." Ted shrugged, leaning back in his seat. This caused Emma to let out an indignant snort, folding her arms as she leant forward to look at the two men.

"You're telling me that you're not going to help, even though this was your idea to steal a van and save Ethan." Emma asked, raising her eyebrows a little. Henry was also slightly in shock. But he didn't expect much of Ted at this point. The man had been sulking around with a bottle in his hand, it wasn't Henry's responsibility to pay attention to everything Ted ever said, especially not when his family was in danger.

"Look, I gave old man the means of saving the kid. I never said I was actually going to do it." He shrugged, playing with the bottom of his pant leg. "I know for a fact that school means certain death, I came along for the ride but I'm sure as hell not going in. Good luck dude, moment of truth." The man smirked again; Emma was so fed up with his general presence. But Hidgens solemnly nodded and got out of the car, holding his handgun and looking at the pair.

"Wait for me to get back, be prepared to get us out. I'm not leaving without Ethan." He nodded to himself to assure himself of his decision. Then he started off, away from the van and towards the front entrance. Emma watched him leave, turning to Ted once he was out of sight.

"You're such a piece of shit you know?" She glared at the man, trying to push her small frame over the console into the front seat, with much difficulty. "You could have at least gone with him. You said it yourself, that school is teeming with those bastards and you're such a coward and refused to help him. He isn't getting out of there alone and you know that. Just hope he finds the others and manages to live, or I swear I'll kill you." She awkwardly tripped into the driver’s seat, finishing her small rant.

"Right." Ted rolled his eyes, looking straight ahead and not over at the woman. "And you're so great? This whole time you've been trying to lord it over me but you're not with him either. Why should it be my responsibility to help the crazy and not yours? Double standards sweetheart." He smirked softly. His usual energy of being promiscuous with any woman he came across had fallen within the last few hours. Emma could see the hopelessness of the situation dawning on him. But it didn't make her hate him any less.

"Don't call me that." She huffed softly, even though that shouldn't have been her take away. "And you're wrong... I'm in charge of driving out once he gets them." She was trying to explain it in her head too. That was her teacher. She felt responsible for him at times. He had his problems, like most people, and Emma found herself helping him through them. She had a weird almost friendship, even if he terrified her constantly. He was extreme but she considered him a friend. And Ted was right. She was a coward for not going with him. Ted took her silence as a win.

"I can call you that if I want to. I'm right, you're wrong." He chuckled slightly to himself as he leant back with a sigh. "You think I'm bad, at least I'm not stringing Paul along." He looked over to her, challenging her. He thrived off of arguing, he liked making others mad.

"I'm not." Emma's scornful gaze met his as she folded her arms across her chest. "Paul is my friend... That's all it is." She knew it wasn't. Of course it wasn't. She had noticed Paul watching her through a window, well, she'd assumed he was looking for someone in the coffee shop. Then he had started coming in. Whatever Ted believed was probably right. She wanted to stop thinking about that now. But there was no other topic, she waited for Ted to find one.

But Ted stayed quiet and watched the school. There was nothing but silence coming from it. That was a good sign he supposed. There was still that fear within him from seeing Charlotte's body. Her blood was just dripping out, a mix of the blue substance and her regular blood. He didn't blame Hidgens for shooting her. But he lost his chance because of it. He'd always imagined a life where he got out of his dead-end job eventually, Charlotte would leave Sam. She'd move out, Ted could visit her. They could be together. He knew he wasn't the only one affected by all of this, but Ted's world view was simple. The world revolved around him. Paul could lose everything, and he wouldn't care. It was like before; he couldn't be fucked if Bill's daughter died. He just wanted to get out. Return to his lifestyle of laying on his couch surrounded by beer bottles every night and avoiding the dead birds that his dog littered beneath it. That mutt was probably gone at this point. Ted didn't care. He didn't want it anyway. He sighed again and looked up towards the school again, something had changed now.

"Paul..." Emma mumbled softly, staring at the school in shock. Paul was sprinting out of the school, hair messed and tie missing. There was smoke rising behind him, from where Ted remembered the hall being. The man running towards them was visibly shaken as he tugged on the door to the van, screaming at the closed door.  
"Let me in!" He shouted as Emma edged back, terrified by the desperate display Paul was showing as he tried to get into the vehicle. She looked back to the man in the car, hoping Ted would, for once, have a good idea. Ted nodded slightly at her and unlocked the door, allowing Paul to pull himself into the back of the van, panting loudly. Not showing any signs of infection.

"Paul?" Emma asked gently as she buckled her seatbelt, prepared to leave. But not yet. When the others were there. Paul looked up at her, Emma relaxed slightly. His eyes were blue, but they were still his. Paul was still there; her Paul was still alive. He began to calm himself before looking back at the school.

"We need to go, right now..." he panted softly, tapping his fingertips against his leg. "They got them... All of them..." He raised a hand and pointed back at the smoke; they could now see the flames rising. The infected were burning something. Well someone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is short and poor but setting up for next chapter lads.


	11. Prepared to burn

Ethan let out a shuddered sob as he felt a dull kick to his side, the infected letting out mocking cackles at his suffering. His whole body hurt but he didn't care. Those were Hannah's screams ringing in his ears. That was Hannah's blood running across the ground and staining his jacket. That was Hannah's body still laying on the table, hands splayed as blood dripped from her open mouth. He rested his head on the ground, unable to stop himself from shaking. He watched Lex's boots move towards him as his girlfriend stepped away from the corpse. 

"Having fun?" Lex's voice was hollow and haunting, Ethan could hear her enjoyment in his suffering. He refused to look up at her and fixated his eyes on the ground. She huffed and slammed her shoe into his jaw. "Answer us!" She shouted as he was rolled over by the force of her kick. Ethan was letting out weak cries as the four girls circle him. He was forced to stare up into their eyes. He felt like he was about to throw up as he stared. From this angle, all that made them look human, have the appearance of people he loved, seemed to be fading away. The bodies he saw before him were artificial. The alien creatures were inhabiting nothing more than skinsuits, pretending to be humans, to hide in plain sight. 

"Leave me alone..." He coughed out. His head was pounding as he fixed his eyes on Lex's face. She seemed to be in charge here. "Fucking infect me already. You've taken away everything I have, if you wanted to torture me then, great, you succeeded. Stop it." He had always been above begging or wanting to be spared. He had nothing to live for anymore. His mother was gone. His dad wasn't coming back. Lex and Hannah were both dead. Nothing more could come from his worthless life. He wasn't like his girls. He wasn't talented like Lex or smart like Hannah, and that's what he's always been. He was secondary to them both, without them he was purposeless and with no prospects. He tipped his head back a little in resignation, barely making a noise as the pain that shot through his spine.

"We won't turn you yet... We have a surprise in store." Alice said softly and gestured back to Hannah's body. "She will do it. Once I wake her up." She stepped away from the group of girls and towards the corpse. Alice looked back to Lex who nodded. Alice leant over their corpse, making eye contact with Ethan as Deb grabbed him, yanking his head up to force him to watch. Alice smiled and propped herself up over Hannah, twisting her neck at an odd angle. Ethan could now see the large slice down the side of her neck, pulsing windpipe visible through the torn layers of skin. The cerulean liquid began to slime its way out of the cut, stretching down towards the torn apart body. Then it landed on her cut open chest, beginning to fall into the wounds.

Ethan looked on, tears filling his eyes as Deb held onto him tightly. He looked down at his quivering hands, he felt too weak to fight back against the girl despite his hands being free. He fixated on Hannah as Alice stepped away from her and hoisted Hannah up, allowing Ethan to see the infection beginning to make its way into her system. She jolted once as the bloody flesh began to turn blue, blood spurting out of her body and across the ground as the virus forced it out. He could see the remaining blood around the top of her head taking on a blue tinge, matted into her hair. She began convulsing violently, her eyelids forced open as the disease took root in her mind. Lex immediately grinned and stepped over.

"Welcome back Banana... How does it feel to be saved?" She asked, pulling her sister to her feet with a wide grin. Hannah immediately smiled and nodded, pulling her blood-soaked flannel closer around her and looking at Ethan.

"Aw, don't cry..." Her voice had taken on a sickly-sweet tone that was nothing like the girl he knew. "I'm here. Lexi saved me; she can save you too. Let the apotheosis in." She made her way over, crouching in front of him. He could see the opening in her skull, the gaping pit where her brain should be. But, despite her new, foul appearance, she still had the same, kind expression, watching him carefully.

"Hannah..." He let out a heaving sigh, head dropping as another surge of pain ran through his frame. "I'm so sorry... I know you're still in there and I failed you. I should have gotten you out. And, I'm ok with dying... If you need to stab me too then fine. I wasn't meant to survive outside of you and Lex." She chuckled slightly himself at the ridiculousness of it all. This was so messed up and he had to accept it. Hannah smiled more and looked up.

"How fun." Deb grinned, taking the shotgun from Grace. "We have a new guest; he can watch the proceedings." She giggled softly, her "eyes" appeared to roll back into her head, calling other members of the hive. Footsteps could be heard immediately down the hall. The two boys who were outside running off to defend the room.

"What are you going to do with me?" Ethan asked with a soft groan as he recovered from being dropped to the ground. He felt like his back was broken and the infected were loving it. Lex smiled and pushed the bat down in the centre of his spine, torturously slow.

"You, and your new little group have been quite difficult for the hive to pick off. You seem to have come up with a plan to thwart us. We're going to make an example of you." She smiled wickedly. "Any ideas?" She grabbed his wrist and dragged him forward across the carpeted ground.

"Are you just going to kill me?" He asked softly, eyes closed now, unable to focus. His head was swimming and his tear-streaked face was buried into the ground. Lex shook her head and crouched down, digging her nails into his wrist.

"No... We're going to fucking burn you for what you've done. You and your endless love of Alexandra, pathetic." The voice was slightly more monotone, the original tone of the alien coming through in her voice. She giggled and pulled Ethan's lighter from his back pocket. She looked to the door, listening to the sounds outside. Hannah was just sat on the desk, swinging her legs as she waited. It was sickening to him, the thought that the innocent, thirteen-year-old was about to burn him alive. He wanted this to be over. 

Then the door was pushed open and another bloodied body rolled onto the ground. Alice, Grace and Deb giggling like madmen as they took the bats in their unnaturally strong grips. Ethan couldn't make out a face as the new victim lay there. The room went silent for the boy. He couldn't take in any other noises; he was done for. The world went quiet.

* * *

  
Paul had been shaking since he'd seen one of the teenagers bring a gun to the heads of the military members that tried to save him. He was curled in the corner of the choir room. He'd managed to stay hidden as Alice and her friends left, dragging Bill's newly apotheosised corpse along with them, Hannah screaming and trying to get away. That's what Paul felt worst about. It wasn't that he had failed to save his best friend, despite the fact that it would weigh on his soul forever. He was a coward and he knew it. That poor girl needed help and Paul refused to give it. He hated himself. But there was no point now, she was gone, and she wasn't getting out. None of them were anymore.

He began to break down, tugging at the knot in his tie. He loosened it at first, tugging at threads that had begun to fall out of place. He used them as a way to keep him grounded. But that wasn't enough. He grabbed the knot again and tightened it, but that wasn't helping. He just pulled it off, nothing was making him feel better. He heard the door at the edge of the room creak open and he tensed. They were back. They knew he was here. They were going to kill him. 

"Bill? Paul? Ethan?" It was soft hissing voice as Professor Hidgens entered the choir room, glancing around. "Are you in here?" He had his gun up, pointing it frantically at all the possible corners that an alien could emerge from. He was paranoid but Paul guessed that it was helpful in this situation. He slowly stood up and reached towards Hidgens.

"I'm here... The others are gone... I'm not infected..." Paul looked down a little, trying to calm himself. "We need to go. They're everywhere." He sighed at the loud screaming that could be heard down the hall. He didn't even think about who it could be. Hidgens sighed and nodded, grabbing Paul's forearm and dragged him towards the door. 

"We need to run the minute we're in the hall. I passed a few rooms on the way here, the infected are everywhere." The older man was also in a blatant state of distress. He wanted to find Ethan and the rest of the group. He was taking all the blame on himself, he let them leave, knowing that there was no possible way they'd get out. He sighed and looked around the hallway, empty on the left, two boys walking away on the right. They were both carrying various logs and other materials. Something about that terrified Hidgens to no end but he couldn't focus on it.

"Come on Professor." Paul sighed and stepped out, trying to pull him towards the exits. He could see the doors. He had very few thoughts cycling through his head at that point but the majority of them were about Emma. He had tried for so long and this was the first time he had gotten to talk to her, and he wasn't losing it. But there was no chance of that, because two more boys rounded the corner, carrying baseball bats. Paul backed away more, eyes wide. It didn't matter anymore, he wanted to get out. He took off. All he could smell was smoke beginning to come from the hall as the infected prepared to burn something. But Paul wasn't going to wait around to find out what. The last thing he saw as he ran to the car was Professor Hidgens on the ground, metal bats slamming against his skull as blood began to seep into the grooves in tiles. He was shouting for Paul's help as they dragged him away, but the man didn't look back as one final hit to the head made Henry's world go dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not going to post for the next two days again because it's the weekend. But yeah, thanks for reading. This is what happened while Emma and Ted were in the car.


	12. Burnt

Hidgens couldn't sense much after he saw the weapon being brought down against his head and he let his eyes fall closed. It was a bizarre feeling. He could see or think, but he felt blood streaking down his face and two sets of arms grabbed him. He was then in the air, carried. He could feel his back hit the floor during the travel. The infected didn't have enough care to be gentle with him. His sweater was dragging on the floor as his head lay limply between his arms. He was trying to force himself to wake up, but he couldn't. He felt awful. He had prepared for years, tried to take every precaution. But it didn't matter. The infected had outsmarted them all. It hurt most to know that they had outsmarted him especially, that they had known that his weaknesses lay with his family.

He couldn't believe it had all ended like this though. He wasn't even sure if he'd be able to get up. He was going to die and that was the reality, he completely wasted his life. He lost the only relationships he had. And he'd never get his chance to fix it now. He could feel the bruises slowly spreading across his face, blood beginning to drain out of the cuts. _Wake up_. He shouted at himself, attempting to struggle but his body only gave a weak twitch. _Get up!_ He tried again, but nothing was happening.

 _Henry, wake up._ It was another voice, something coming from the back of his mind. Something pushing him to wake up, pushing harder than he had. Then he felt himself drop to the ground, impact rattling through his body. _Professor wake up._ Ethan. His eyes tore open, blinking the blood out of his eyes. He could see the infected around him, and another slumped body, black jacket tight around the boy.

"Ethan…" He coughed through it, trying to raise an arm. The voice was compelling him to go to his nephew, if the teenager was still alive. The infected parted for him, stepping away to the sides and allowing him passage. He was horrified at the distorted faces of the creatures around him. The young girl who had been with Ethan was watching him the closest, it was a purely haunting feeling. He tried to drag himself forward and felt his own blood forming a trail after him. He shook his head slightly in an attempt to clear his vision. But that made it all worse. His eyes became blurry as he felt pain rattle around in his skull. He tried to remember how long he had until he'd pass out, until his blood was drained out onto the ground. He made hit to the boy’s side, swallowing his fear and gently shaking him. He didn't move.

"Ethan!" One of the infected, who he didn't recognise, snapped, storming over to the pair. Hidgens cowered slightly, not wanting to lose the precious time he had left. "Wake. You don't have long, at least provide enjoyment for us." The girl kicked at the teenager’s body, rolling him over onto his back, causing him to let out a pure scream of pain. His eyes were open, staring at the roof blankly.

"Lex... Please..." He begged with teary eyes. That was the worst Henry had felt this whole time. He could see how much his nephew was suffering and he couldn't end it, the infected refused to. Ethan looked weak but this was all the time he had. He didn't want to put anything more on the teenager, but he needed to explain himself. Even though he knew the infected would find amusement in their suffering.

"Ethan... I'm so sorry." He sighed, causing his nephew's eyes to shift to him. "I shouldn't have let you come here, not unarmed anyway. I shouldn't have tried to force you out. Fighting with you caused the infected to get Charlotte. Every single thing that has happened, the apocalypse, Charlotte, you all coming here, Bill, Hannah, I could have prevented all of it. But I'm so endlessly self-aggrandising… Fuck, I don't know what to say." The walls he had built were smashed to pieces now. He, for the first time in years, began to genuinely cry.

"Why?" Ethan asked softly, trying to ignore the persistent giggles from the aliens. "Why do you hate me so much?" He flinched slightly as he moved his clearly injured back. Henry sighed and nodded; he knew it would come to this. Ethan was the one person who was owed an explanation most. Unlike the others, he had never met him, and he still copped Henry's undying and bitter wrath.

"I wish I could explain everything... But fifteen minutes isn't enough time." He let out a half-hearted chuckle before sighing once again. "Sorry, now isn't the time to try and make light of everything. I owe it to you to be serious, to explain everything. To explain why I left and abandoned my family." He looked over at the distinct sound of a door opening, all the infected had drawn closer to them, menacing. He saw Ethan's face fall at that.

"Hurry... Please, they're going to kill me." He coughed loudly, trying to force himself to sit up. "Why did you leave? Just say it." Ethan could feel his spine shattering every time he even moved a muscle. Henry just wished he could do something to alleviate his nephew's suffering, but there was nothing as Hannah and one of the other girls forced him to his feet. Ethan was wailing in pain, unable to hold himself up. But that didn't matter, the infected were already hauling him towards the door.

"No please!" Henry yelled after them, turning Lex's head towards him. "Don't kill him, please... He is the only family I have." That caused them to stop. He had false hope for a moment, but he knew the infected weren't going to be that kind to him. Lex nodded her head towards him, causing the two boys to grab him too.

"Join us or burn." One of them hissed in a monotone, almost autotuned voice. His eyes widened involuntarily. That was another thing he had in common with Ethan, both were uncomfortable with displaying any form of fear. He just let his body go limp as the pair were both pulled out of the room, feet dragging along the linoleum ground and past the corpses of other humans, not given the decency of rebirth. Ethan was still crying and trying to kick at his captors. This was truly the worst possible scenario. He had knowledge that he didn't want to give to the hive, methods of killing them off, knowledge of where Emma and Ted were. He didn't know how to get out of this. And he knew he wouldn't be able to.

 _Not your fault. Say it._ The voice was back. Henry felt his head unwillingly turn towards Ethan, trying to force him to speak. He opened his mouth but was thrown to the ground before he could say anything. He winced slightly but that didn't hurt as much as the large stake and logs surrounding it. This was how they were going to be ended. He tried to look to his side, but a hand grabbed the back of his head, forcing his head to stay still, forcing him to stare forward. Forward as Ethan was dragged onto the stake.

“Please! Don’t do this!” Ethan shouted, but it made no difference. Bill approached next, leaving the corner he had been loitering in. The man stumbled toward him, helping another alien tie the teenager to the post before stepping aside and allowing Hannah to move towards Ethan.

"We're sorry it had to be like this." She was strangely sympathetic towards the boy, Henry supposed that was the real Hannah shining through. Recognising the pain that she herself went through. "But we need your uncle to join the hive... Killing you is the only way to force him to join us. At least you can use your talents of oppressing others to your advantage." That's where her tone changed. As the old man looked at her now, she was less of a kind, warm hearted child. She was truly a part of the hive, forcing humanity to face up to their shortcomings as individuals and a society. He was almost drawn to it. The possibility of a world where no one was lesser, where everyone's prejudices and preconceived notions were erased, replaced by harmony and resemblance to one another.

A world in sync. A world where Henry wouldn't have been kicked out of home, where he could have known his family and had relationships with them. A world were things would have been right. He let his eyes focus back on Ethan as he was doused in petrol, shouting and imploring them to let him go. Now the professor felt nothing for him. He wasn't going to really die; he would be back, and Henry would be alongside him. As he looked at the struggling teenager, he saw himself, how he had been almost 45 years ago. Everything would be as it should. Infection was the answer. Ethan could struggle all he wanted as a fire was lit beneath his feet. He could scream in agony as he began to burn. He could close his eyes as the surrounding creatures took unending joy in his violent demise. Death was coming regardless. Wasn't rebirth a better option? A better world without the hindrances people had now.

As charred skin began to force its way back onto Ethan's body, Lex stood over him, bringing her boyfriend back to join them. The monsters pulled Henry up, moving him closer, ready for infection. He was glad. He wanted his second chance at life, he'd get it this way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Thanks for reading! Sorry this took so long to get out, I had a really busy day and I couldn't write a lot. The next chapter is probably either a Hidgens chapter which is the series of events that lead to his theory of the apocalypse or some Ted, Emma and Paul content, Idk which should go first.


	13. What he wants

The drive was silent. Emma slowly pushing her foot on the acceleration, focusing on the road. Ted was beside her, uncomfortably staring ahead, she could tell he tended to process things slower than the others. The reality that his co-workers, people he vaguely cared for, were dead. He was sensitive, no matter how hard he, like all the other men, tried to hide his feelings. Paul looked about the same. The tall man was sat in the back seat, not having bothered putting on a seatbelt, much like Emma. He had his arms wrapped around his knees, shaking slightly.

He hadn't spoken since they had let him in. He couldn't stop thinking about Bill. The vision of his best friend, the man he considered his closest ally, a substitute partner even, being shot through the head, his own tears streaming down his face. Paul had done everything he could. He'd tried to save him the best he could. He begged him to not bring the gun to his head. That's why Paul had been so grateful when Bill stopped. That joy had turned to horror when Alice took Hidgens' gun and put a bullet through her father's head. That was the worst part. Paul had watched the girl grow up, babysat her for years, been there while her parents screamed and swore at each other. He knew Alice would never have shot her father. He knew the real Alice was in there, shouting, trying to stop herself.

It was a sickening thought. That the people the aliens were imitating were still right there. Sam was still in there, letting himself murder his wife. It was far too strange. Paul didn't even think the real Sam would care. He hoped that would never happen to him. He couldn't bear the idea of killing Emma or Ted, or anyone else that he had developed a close friendship with. Well, he hoped it was more with Emma. He wanted it to be more. But he didn't think it would ever be. He was embarrassed to be thinking about this, in the apocalypse of all times. Paul silently was tearing himself apart. It didn't matter.

"Where do we go?" Ted asked in a quiet, flat voice. He was running his hand through his hair, either to fix it or as a coping mechanism. "If they got the professor then they'll know what our car looks like. And they'll know where his panic room is." The apocalypse was turning people's whole personalities on their heads. Both men quiet as Emma tried to think through a plan.

"I'm sure Professor Hidgens can hold them off. I mean he's only like... sixty years old..." She sighed, resting her head against the wheel slightly before focusing. "I say we go back to his house. It's secure, we can lock ourselves in, not let him or anyone else in unless he can prove it to us that it's still him." Paul nodded at that, in agreement with her plan. The moustached man looked at Paul's agreement and rolled his eyes, scoffing.

"Paul, don't be a fucking suck up." The old Ted was breaking back through. "What if he has some kind of override code? He could get into the house, and Charlotte and Sam are still in there! What if they come back? What's the plan then genius?" No one had an answer. The reality would always remain the same. They all knew there was no hope of them getting out of Hatchetfield.

"Ted..." Paul started, unsure on how to proceed. Especially due to him not having an answer. "I know you're scared but none of us really know how to handle this. It's easier to go to the Professor's house. He won't necessarily know that we're going there, and it should give us a few days to find a way to free the infected... Or something..." Paul looked down, clasping his hands together and rolling his wrists gently. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Pause, breathe. He felt targeted by everything that had happened thus far. It was his worst nightmare after all. But he thought that was selfish. It wasn't all about him, it was about Ted and Emma too, about any other survivors that may have been out there. God, he hoped there was another survivor.

He looked out the window once again. The rundown houses of Hatchetfield far behind them as they drove through the fancier half of the town. Paul was surprised by how quiet it was, but Emma and Ted's earlier observation had been right. Downtown was where they remained clustered. Why target the rich minority when all those who were desperate and needed a solution were right there? They were wise enough to know the town they were invading. There were other strange details around the town. Smears of the blue goo plastered across walls, letters becoming present to the group in the car. Emma pulled over so the three could stare at them.

Some were to be expected. 'All hail the hive.' was written the most clearly, jagged, neon writing contrasting against the dark bricks of Inner Beauty Rhinoplasty. Beside it was another message, 'We got what we wanted'. Something about that shook Paul completely. It was an idea he had heard time and time again. The most vivid of which was his early confrontation with Mr. Davidson. Now as the sun set, with every unbelievable thing that had happened, that was what stuck with him. The cobalt liquid drooling and sliming out of his mouth, venom-like substance streaming from his mouth as he sang. He remembered the terror of how close the other man had gotten. The sap consistency of the infection. That haunting voice, forcing him to admit what he wanted. He had said something, but he hadn't meant it. He didn't want money. Yes, it was a necessity in this time, but it wasn't Paul's main goal. He didn't think he had one of those. A partner were the next words he babbled out. That he meant. But a partner wasn't as... frightfully specific as Mr. Davidson's want. He wanted to be loved but not in the same way as any of the current deceased. There was one thing Paul Matthews wanted in life and that was the woman in the seat in front of him. The woman arguing with his co-worker. The woman now crying- He shook himself out of it as he saw Emma begin to let small tears escape from her closed eyes.

"Erica? Are you alright?" Ted asked, receiving a sharp smack from the crying woman. "Jesus, fuck, ok! I'll stop being polite." He huffed and folded his arms, leaning back in his seat and almost rolling onto his side, not paying any attention as Paul took Emma's hand cautiously. He didn't say anything for a moment, waiting for her to look at him. He felt slightly uncomfortable as he leant forward and towards her. He wanted to make sure the small piece of contact they had so far was alright. That was another thing he wanted, to make Emma feel safe. Even if that was impossible right now.

"Emma, can you look at me for a moment?" He asked softly, staring at her with the most sympathetic expression he could muster. "It's going to be alright... We can go to the Professor's house, just like you said... You're a biologist too, surely you can help us beat it..." He tried as Emma's eyes slowly met his and she let out a small sigh.

"I'm hardly an anatomical genius like Hidgens..." That was accompanied by a small, halfhearted chuckle and her dropping his hand. He tried not to let that change anything. "You're trying and I appreciate it but, this is not that bad. I'm not crying for the damn apocalypse. Everyone so far should have known better, they had complete control over whether they died... We do too, and I won't let myself die." It was a shortsighted view of things. Charlotte and Bill were the immediate examples Paul's mind yelled at him. They'd had no choice, their loved ones were in danger, they had to try. But he could tell that Emma was far better at arguing than he was. Those two worked in both of their favors.

"Then why are you crying?" Paul asked, voice slightly more muted than before. He wanted an answer for that much. Emma just shook her head.

"Don't ask me. Ask this dickhead." She gestured to Ted who reluctantly turned his head towards them. Emma huffed. "Yeah, you, asshole. I'm trying to stay calm, but he is genuinely the most off-putting thing I've ever seen. He provoked me when I'm clearly stressed enough." She looked away just like Ted had, letting another silence fall across the group. Paul sighed and relaxed back into the back seat, knowing that Emma and Ted would never resolve their differences and that was that. He let his eyes wander the walls of various businesses once again and noticed something strange. There was a bag on one of the corners, an entrance to the backstreets. Food and various other supplies were strewn out of the bag, and there was someone putting it back in. A man putting it back in. Paul couldn't make out any discernable traits as he cleaned up the mess. There was no guarantee it was the other survivor Paul had wished for. But something about him had Emma's eyes locked on him. The man slowly stood up, his face becoming visible. Emma let out a soft gasp, nothing more than a slight noise of surprise. Paul initially assumed it was due to the lack of the swimming, signature, infected blue eyes. Then Emma got a word out, winding down a window and shouting out a name. 

"Tom!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I killed Ethan so Tom is his replacement


	14. What it feels like

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, just to clarify my note at the end of last chapter. I'm not purposely replacing Ethan with Tom just had a thought regarding an ending that required a Tom.  
> (Also it's been a few days I just haven't been doing great mentally sorry y'all)

Salvation. Liberation. That was truly the goal of the hive and Henry knew that now. In the years since he was forced out of home, he had tried to paint the end of the world as a horrible possibility. An option they should never explore, something he had pushed the world to fear. Something he had pushed himself to fear. His vision of the apocalypse had always been something dark and horrid. It wasn't as much the physical pain he feared. It was the thought of existence ending. A world where Henry Hidgens didn't exist. A world where he became purposeless for all eternity. A world where everyone else would be happy. None of the lives he'd ruined in his various escapades would have ended that way. He had always figured that ceasing to exist would be ideal for everyone else. But that wasn't the case. Instead he'd be recreated in some non-perfect imitation of himself. He liked that idea.

That's why he didn't struggle when the hulking, burnt flesh of his nephew approached him. He let them mock him, making fun of his decisions and failures as a human. A disgrace to the town, someone everyone wanted gone. A lost cause. He was fine with it. This was the price he'd pay for resisting the control. He couldn't resist anymore. The scornful words met his ears louder now as a syringe was produced by Ethan. Of course. As he thought back to the ways he'd seen people dispatched. Ethan with smoke and fire, Hannah's brain removed, now an injection for him. The way creatures thought to destroy each other way fascinating to him, something he would be able to understand once he could join his strongest adversary. 

"How does it feel to know that humanity, the very thing you believed in to stop us, has no chance?" The creatures hissed, using Hannah to deliver the scathing message. "We have the girls, we'll have you. Then nothing will stop us." He just simply nodded in agreement. Winning was inevitable for them, and he was proud to be a part of it. He knew how beneficial his level of intellect would be, and how truly intriguing it'd be to feel the transformation process. If only they'd hurry.

"You already know I'm on your side. I believe that this was how I ended up in every, unending iteration of this pitiful world." He sighed softly and allowed Bill and various other infected hold him up. Why die with dignity? He hadn't lived his life with any. "If I can't make it out then no one will and that's a promise." He would never call himself arrogant, overly sure of himself perhaps, but never arrogant. His confidence had been shaken enough over the course of his meaningless life. Since the night he said those two, horrible words he had been ostracized and abandoned by everything. That's why knowing that he had a second chance was so thrilling when the blue blood was injected into his neck. 

He felt his body sway slightly, beginning to rock back slightly, neck spasming as the infection started taking root in his body. He could feel it now, the cold, dead, freezing feeling flowing down through his veins, into his shoulder as he let his eyes fall closed. It was a sobering reality as he felt the infected lay him to the ground, menacingly watching him slowly join them. Then he felt it in his chest reaching his heart and letting his chest clench. Pain there was not uncommon, but this was almost unbearable. It wasn't just a chill anymore, the feeling had become a cold burning situation, binding his limbs and killing any still living part of him. Then it reached his face. This was the part he had known would be painful. He let out pained shouts as he felt his own control eroded, brain replaced by a core for the hive's knowledge and the remaining infection settling in his now empty eye sockets. He felt himself sit up, but he hadn't willed it. His hand raised as his head looked to the clusters around him.

"Now, let’s go get the others outside." It was his own voice, speaking without his consent. He fought to stop it for a moment before hearing two voices reverberating through his skull.

'We can get rid of you; we now have all three of your vessels.' This was a strange voice, unlike the one Henry had heard before Ethan's infection. But that voice was still there, almost arguing back as he lost track of his body talking and moving on its own, tuning into the conversation he could hear.

' _You can't hold back all three of them, they can still break out of it._ '

'No, they can't. The younger they are. The stronger they are. By carving out Hannah's brain we depleted your control over her.' That was why they had been so violent with her. He knew he had overheard Ethan mention something about Hannah hearing voices in her head, this was them. There was something beyond himself here. He was watching it occur too, his new 'eyes' casting a blue glow over the objects in the surrounding room. The other members were following him, as he expected. He had taken over from Lex, the hive valuing his talents over her and Ethan's more brutish personalities.

He could hear his voice instructed the others, sharing the location of van, the appearance. The people inside it. He shared derisive and unkind summaries of the lives of the three remaining individuals, all the hive had gathered since their arrival the previous night. They only believed they had two of humanities weak links and Paul left to destroy. A perfect world could then be created.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eeek short


	15. The fourth vessel

Emma stared as she slowly wound her window back up. It was a decision in a moment of surprise and panic. To tell the truth, seeing her sister's generally unlikable husband was not a part of her plan for the apocalypse. He was staring at them now, eyes seeming hollow and lifeless, but it was really him, not the apotheosis' interpretation. He took a shaky step forward, lugging the bag he had left on the ground. Then he took another. Then another. Tom made his way towards the car, Paul shooting unsure looks to Emma and Ted. All three of them were tense as the man attempted to tug the door open, much like Paul had only minutes ago.

  
"Do we let him in?" Paul asked softly as the man outside the car let out a string of drunken expletives, targeted at Emma. He looked around the car. Ted almost had his usual smug look but there was a softness to it now, he didn't have an answer either. But it wasn't his opinion Paul wanted. The only opinion he ever wanted was Emma's.

  
"I didn't mean to call out for him..." Emma mumbled softly as Tom pounded his fist against the window. Ted let out a snort at that, he couldn't keep his mouth shut when there was a chance of antagonising someone.

  
"Then why did you?" He folded his arms childishly, in a mock display of intelligence. He had pushed himself obnoxiously close to Emma, trying to irritate her even more. Paul gently pushed him back into his seat, a silent warning to be polite when Emma seemed to be in such an open state of distress.

  
"Look, if you could stop being an immature douche for a minute that would be greatly appreciated." Emma stared Ted down for a moment before carefully opening the car door. She was genuinely afraid of the man, but she had always wanted to feel closer to her family, especially now. Tom was the only one she had left. That was why she tried to hold her ground as he climbed into the back of the van with Paul, glaring slightly at the group.

  
"You couldn't have opened the door any, later could you?" He huffed, eyes settling on Paul. "The hell are you staring at?" His tone was grave and serious, with a hint of general irritation breaking through. Paul seemed to shrink a little, looking to Emma for context. The woman just sighed in response.

  
"Paul, Ted. This is Tom, my brother in law." She gestured to the man in the flannel, almost embarrassed to say she was related. But he probably thought the same way about her, her whole family normally did. "Tom, this is my friend Paul and, well, this asshole." She gestured to Ted who rolled his eyes.

  
"Charming." He glared at her, earning a rebuttal from Emma.

  
"Douchebag."

  
"Bitch."

  
"Royal pain in the ass."

  
"Paul's girlfriend." 

  
"Rude." Emma scoffs, causing Paul to look down when he realised, she probably took the most offence to that. But, at the end of the day, this was the end of the world, Paul shouldn't really care. He glanced away to Tom who had raised an eyebrow at the pair's insult battle. He didn't think much of Emma's brother in law. He seemed like a simple almost kind looking man. But he trusted Emma's judgement, and all he'd seen of Tom thus far had been violent and unthinking. He just hoped this wouldn't cause any more problems for the three of them.

  
"I don't really care who you are." Tom sighed, resting his head back against the seat. "Are you three the only ones left? I haven't seen anyone else." His voice changed on the last sentence, implying something else to Paul but he didn't think to bring it up. He could Tom was in pain. It'd be wrong to say something that could make it worse.

  
"Yeah, we think at least." Emma sighed as she pulled the car back out onto the road. "We had a group, but it feels like they're being picked off one by one... Is Tim...?" She trailed off at the end of her question, but Tom appeared to know what she meant. Paul could tell that this Tim was important to them, he could see the pain that shook Tom as the name was mentioned. The man didn't respond to his sister in law, opting to look out the window. It was a silent implication that the answer was too painful to be spoken. Silence was better. 

  
"We had some science guy." Ted tried to explain. His limited brain capacity was not doing him any good. "Elena's teacher or some shit, I don't care. But we were headed back to his house because everyone but me is naïve or an idiot." Tom seemed slightly taken aback by the aggression but nodded.

  
"The older guy, yeah I'm familiar." He tried to catch Emma's eye in the mirror. "Remember the time I dropped Tim over and he was there?" He asked, in a bizarre attempt for family unity. Emma just rolled her eyes in response; Paul could tell she wasn't on board. Maybe it was less of Tom being unkind and more Emma being unwilling to associate with him. Paul couldn't tell what it was.

  
"Yeah, I remember, that was a month ago, Tom." Emma sighed and looked at the wheel, trying to force the dust off it with her eyes as a distraction. "Hidgens was surprisingly good with the kid. He stepped in for me." Her brother in law chuckled uncomfortably, messing with his overshirt slightly. The group inside the small vehicle was nothing but tense. Ted was messing with his hair and staring into the rear-view mirror, this was even making him uncomfortable. Then he frowned.

  
"You know there's a car following us, right?" Ted asked quietly, looking back at the men in the backseat. Paul slowly turned to look out the back window. Ted was right. There was a second car, driving as fast as possible to catch up to them. A teenage girl was in the driver's seat, blue eyes wild as several infected gave chase. Professor Hidgens was beside her. He was staring straight ahead, not violent or shouting like the rest of the aliens crammed in. All he had to add was knowledge. That's all they wanted from him. That made Paul shudder. The idea of someone being turned into nothing more than a hollow mind shook him. It was an uncomfortable thought.

  
"Fuck..." Emma huffed, slamming her foot on the accelerator again, trying to reach Hidgens' house before they could. "Paul, the minute we get there. Lock the door, please... If I don't get in then go, or sacrifice Ted, I don't care." She sighed, forcing herself to not look at their pursuers.

  
"No, if we're getting out of this, we're getting out of it all together." He looked around at the other three, gently grabbing Emma's hand. He immediately realised and started to pull away, but she held onto it, not rejecting his advances for once. He still thought it was more of an act of friendship, however.

  
"Fine." Emma sighed as she got to the gates of the large, modern house. She managed to get through, pulling over as the infected followed them through. That's when they all lost the plot. The four dashed from the vehicle, shoes clattering against the darkened driveway. That was followed by another set of footsteps as the two groups ran for the door. Emma shoved Paul forward and inside, letting him tug her after him. Tom roughly shoved Ted through as well and trying to slam the door behind him. He pressed the lock down as he held it closed. But it was jammed. The man felt the infected trying to shoulder barge the door. But he could take it. He turned back to Paul for help. The pair now had some strange sense of comradery together. 

  
"Alexa! Lock the doors!" Paul shouted, suddenly remembering when the professor had done to protect the group. There was a chime and then silence. The infected were still there and waiting but they seemed to know that they wouldn't get in yet. That's when Paul heard an echoed voice in his head, catching the man off guard.

  
_'Three down. Last chance.'_

  
Paul looked down at that, beginning to stress. Three what? He hit the ground in panic.


	16. Talking

Paul was just staring at his hands for the next few minutes. Finally coming off the high and adrenaline rush that was getting inside the house. It was a strange feeling to realise that they were almost a part of the hive. The blue seeping through their bodies and killing all that was human about them. Then the voice. It was soft, short sentences echoing in his head. It had overwhelmed him. He had let his knees buckle and let himself slide down the wall, head leaning forward until his chin rested on his chest. Last chance. Those were the words that stuck with him. There was something bigger at play here, something trying to push the citizens of Hatchetfield to fight back. Paul didn't even know if they could. It felt too powerful to him, something he didn't understand just yet.

He sighed slightly, forcing his hands still and resting them against him legs. He counted softly in his head, bringing himself back to reality. He looked up, noticing the faces of the other survivors all staring at him. Both Ted and Tom had raised their eyebrows in confusion, but Emma was closer to him than before. She was watching him carefully, worried for her friend's safety. 

"Paul? Are you back with us?" Her voice was barely above a whisper, clearly distressed by their near capture. She smiled when he managed to nod slightly. "Good... And, uh, good thinking on getting the robot to close the door. Should have known that it was the only way Hidgens did anything." It felt weird for all of them to refer to their long-gone friends in third person. It felt more final. They were the only four citizens left in Hatchetfield. 

"Yeah, strange guy." Paul tried to make his comment sound like a joke, but he couldn't. The situation was too tense for that. "We need to figure out how to turn them back... Or get out of the town, I don't know." He sighed and looked to Emma who stepped closer to him, nodding.

"The professor said something about Clivesdale raising the bridge, but there has to be some other way out." Emma suggested, looking at the two other men as well. "We could try to find a boat or something like that?" The only response she got, in typical fashion, was Ted's eyeroll.

"Great, you can do that. You can try to find some way out; you can give yourself false hope. But I'm not going to." He huffed and moved towards the hallway. "Now, while you all kid yourself and try to think of an escape route. I'm going to go drink myself to death. Have fun." He threw up some random hand sign and walked out of the entrance room. He seemed slightly more at peace than everyone else, but it was just a weak mindset to Paul. A way of trying to assure himself that there was nothing he could do. Emma sighed and looked down.

"Great." She looked around. "Let's talk somewhere else, the infected are still by the doors. I don't want them hearing us." She was right, the shadows were still moving past it. Tom nodded and stepped forward.

"I say we follow that other guy. We can plan somewhere in here, it's just a bit strange to be waiting in front of where they are." He sighed and gestured out of the room. "Shall we?" He started off down the hall as Emma followed, looking back to make sure Paul was still following her. It was nice to have him there. She didn't want to be navigating a world of zombies, her brother in law and Ted alone. 

Paul smiled down at her as he practically loomed over her. He liked this, despite the situation, it seemed like him and Emma only had each other. That was something he wanted to hold onto. Even though he worried that it would end soon. They didn't have many means of escaping from the island and Paul doubted that they could. Perhaps Ted had the right idea, enjoy one’s self before they were killed at the hands of their revived friends. He looked around the, once again, creepily neat house, eyes scanning across the bloodstains that Sam had left on the couch when he was made to brutalise his own wife. It had smeared across the brown leather of the couch, giving it a strange reddish colour. He shuddered. There were all the marks of their dear and forgotten friends. A glove from the teenager, Professor Hidgens had left yet another gun on the small table in the room. But, sadly for Paul, they were all gone. never to return. He watched as Emma and Tom took a seat together at the table, both shifting uncomfortably. It'd be better to let them talk.

"I'm going to go find Ted... I feel bad about letting him go off alone." He sighed and made his way towards the stairs. He heard Emma silently sigh but for once he decided to go against what she so obviously wanted and took the stairs up to Hidgens' kitchen and bar. Leaving Emma and Tom alone.

* * *

That was where he had expected Ted to be and he was right. The man was already behind the counter, pulling cans out of the fridge and stacking them on the counter. He looked up at Paul, trying to hide his look of disappointment.

"You agree with me that drinking is better than listening to your girlfriend down there prattle on?" He asked as he took a sip from a half empty bottle that was laying around. Paul wasn't even sure if it was his, Ted didn't seem to care anymore. Paul shook his head slightly and took a seat on one of the barstools.

"She's not my girlfriend, can you please stop?" He tried. It wasn't that frustrating for him to be told something that he wished was true, but it was deeply saddening to know that it never would be now. Ted just chuckled, looking down at him and using Paul's seated position as a chance to intimidate him. 

"I'm not going to stop because you know that you're into her. We all know, and you refuse to admit it. It's the end of the fucking world, you didn't see me hesitating." The drunken man planted his hands on the table and leant over him. "The world is fucked Paul, let loose for once in your life and don't be such a fucking pain in the ass all the time. I made moves on her and it didn't work, if she's going to be attracted to anyone it's probably you, because you're my polar opposite and also grossly unattractive. Far as I'm concerned, you two belong together." He finished his barrage of insults, picking up his chosen drink once again.

Paul took a moment, unable to think of a rebuttal. He hated Ted. He had insisted to himself for years that his co-worker was just difficult, or they weren't similar enough to have genuine conversations. But Ted was a bad person, it had taken Paul a while to consider that it wasn't an issue with him. Sometimes there was someone else to blame for mistakes that wasn't him. He slowly pushed his chair back and stood up, barely an inch taller than Ted but the other man frowned slightly. Paul wasn't going to take Ted's garbage anymore.

"Stop. Stop talking." Paul put a hand up, choosing to not be polite for once. "You have done nothing today except insult me and the whole group endlessly. You sit and you drink, and you complain, and you add nothing to the group. So, stop. You may be my co-worker, but we aren't friends. You harass me and I'm sick of it. Can you please just be polite. Please." An awkward silence fell across the pair as Ted scoffed.

"Fuck, big outburst for you." He rolled his eyes. "Why'd you even come up here if you don't like me? You never even give me a chance; you just irrationally hate me." That accusation made Paul angrier. But he tried to not let his anger be present, Ted's victim's complex irking him.

"Fine, I was just trying to give Emma time to talk to her brother in law. I don't know if you actually care but she's clearly upset by his presence." Paul sighed in frustration and sat back down, playing with his sleeves. He very rarely let himself get mad; Ted had managed to awaken the part of Paul he tried to separate from himself. 

"Yeah, mhm, she's upset by his presence, therefore you leave them alone together. Really good job, Matthews, truly." Ted sat opposite him, going back to his drinking. Paul just let him. He knew better than to continue this argument.

* * *

'Your group is in shambles. You can't win now.'

' _You underestimate the lengths I'll go to beat you._ '

* * *

Emma had sat in silence since Paul's footsteps faded from her earshot and she was left with Tom, both looking at anything but each other. She didn't exactly know what to say to him. They had only met for the first time at Jane's funeral and it hadn't gone well. He had glared at her the whole time. He had ranted to her after about how many times Jane had tried to reach out and how miserable Emma had made their lives. But Emma didn't think Tom was any better. He killed her sister. Neither of them could forgive the other and the emotional strain of the apotheosis wasn't helping either of them.

"So why were you on the streets?" Emma asked, still avoiding eye contact. She'd settle for small talk until Paul got back and they could plan. Tom hummed softly; his eyes were focused on a bookshelf in the corner.

"It wasn't intentional. I went out and I couldn't get back to my neighbourhood because of some fucking zombie bastards. What about you? I don't believe that you actively chose to work with these idiots." He sighed as he read random book titles. He didn't want to explain any more of the situation, especially not with someone he disliked so intensely.

"I get that." Emma looked back over at him for a second before also averting her eyes. "I was at work when my co-workers started singing and forcing our customers to... choke to death on the blue shit... Anyway, Paul was there and helped me out, unfortunately he forced me to join his band of idiots." She did feel bad about calling some of them idiots, but she had no regrets when it pertained to the man upstairs.

"I see... Paul seems like an alright guy. Not sure about the other one." Tom let out a weak chuckle. "I saw the state of the high school before... You guys did well to get out of there." 

"Yeah, Ted and I didn't go in... Paul, the professor and some kids went in, it didn't exactly go well." She knew he probably had realised that, but it was a good enough way to extend their meaningless conversation. "I'm so sorry about Tim... It's kind of just a repeated mess for our family, isn't it? First-" She was trying to make it less awkward and show sympathy, but he glared at her.

"Don't you dare say her name. I don't want to get into this with you. Not again." He clenched his fists, causing Emma to shift away slightly. "You made her miserable, you know? She wanted you to be a part of her life, hell, even though I didn't want you to be. Tim didn't even know he had an aunt until her funeral." It was the same bullshit he'd shouted at her a year ago. He hadn't let go of that anger.

"I'm not trivialising your wife's death, just leave me alone." Emma looked back at him. "I lost my sister. You're not the only one who struggled." She tapped her fingernails on the table, watching Tom tense more as she did that. He was annoyed but she could deal with it. 

"I don't care if I get out at this point." Tom sighed, getting up. "Either I join my son and wife or I'm miserable forever. I say we make a run for the beach, try and get a boat, leave Ted and make our way to Clivesdale." Emma chuckled and nodded. 

"Fair enough. Let's get Paul?" She asked, they could put that conversation aside for now. They had plenty of fighting to get to after they stopped the apocalypse.

* * *

'You try so hard to beat me.'

' _You may have the three. But we have the fourth_.'

'You cheated. We can too.'

* * *

That's when all four in the house heard cackling from the basement, from Hidgens' lab. Something was awake again. And more was coming. They couldn't predict what.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally going to be the last chapter, but uh, things changed! Ok- For the next two chapters I have three possible plots and I don't know which to use. A B or C, lets do it.


	17. The lab

As the four in the house sat in a tense silence, there was something growing around them. A war and a power they didn't know of. the wandering corpses outside the building suddenly stopped still, cold and frozen eyes staring straight ahead. There was a soft hum, voices melding together and over each other as something fed them information. Then they all immediately snapped into fast pacing as the group trooped around the house and towards the back entrance to the basement, but they didn't go in. They clustered around it, waiting in silence. There was something they were trying. And they knew it would work.

  
There was something else. Voices, muffled and quiet, coming from the infected but they didn't open their mouths. The residents of Hatchetfield were all in there, hidden underneath layers of toxic, alien pathogens. Shouting and screaming for help, but no one was there to help them. Their only goal was now to recruit, force more into the twisted conglomeration of the hive. Four more to go. Then the world would be right.

* * *

  
Emma sighed as she stood up, calling upstairs. "Paul? Ted? Do you want to come down here?" She was getting slightly sick of the talking in separate areas. That or she didn't want to spend any more time alone with Tom. There was a slight shuffling upstairs, someone moving fast towards the stairwell, someone following at a much slower pace. She could already predict which was which man. It was strange to her that Paul always seemed so eager to help or support her. Perhaps he was in the same situation as her. Scratch that. She knew he was. That was one of the things they could bond over most, they both couldn't stand the others. They just had each other, and that was frightening to Emma. They had bonded like this in a matter of days and that was a truly uncommon thing for the barista. She didn't let others in anymore and Paul had forced her to let him in. He had been so protective and understanding already, slightly pathetic but loyal to a fault. Maybe she would change her ways after, begin to grow trust with others. That was if there was an after. 

  
"Emma, you alright?" She jumped as she heard Paul carefully approach her, placing a hand on her arm in worry. He was looking right at her, bent down slightly so they were at eye-level with each other. She couldn't help but smile at that, he was purposely trying to calm her despite the situation they had narrowly escaped from.

  
"I'm fine... I just think we should start finding a way to get to the beach." She sighed slightly causing Paul to nod and take a seat beside Tom. He was waiting to listen to her, preparing to take in every word she had to give him. Every little idea she had; he'd consider. He had that irrational trust in her once again. 

  
"I say we make a run for the car, then book it to the bay." Ted shrugged, dragging his feet as he slumped down at the table as well. "They can't follow us forever. Fatigue and whatnot." He shrugged, leaning closer to Emma, causing her to cringe at the stale smell of alcohol. She shifted her chair slightly, moving closer to Paul as Ted gave the other man a wink. Paul looked away at that, visibly annoyed and uncomfortable. The pair had discussed something, unknown to Emma and Tom, and Ted was loving how embarrassed Paul was. She chose to brush it off.

  
"We should focus on making sure that there are no infected near, then we can make a run for it." Tom sighed and got up, wandering to the counter. "Who left the guns laying around?" He was staring at the professor’s pistol that had been left laying out.

  
"Emma's teacher was a little... trigger happy." Paul sighed as he got up and joined Tom. "I think there may be more in here so we could go look for those then try to shoot through the hordes?" He didn't exactly love the idea himself but if it meant protecting Emma, he'd try. He wasn't obsessed with her... at least he didn't think he was.  
"What's the point in shooting? There's no way in hell you'd be able to get through all of them with some bloody pistols." Ted sighed as he fiddled with the bloodstained tablecloth. That made Paul think of something.

  
"Remember when the professor shot Charlotte and Sam?" He asked quietly, moving his eyes from the tablecloth to the group.

  
"Yeah, thanks for reminding me." Ted huffed, glaring at him. As much as the man hated to admit it, he had grown attached to Charlotte and their relationship, the thought of her corpse, lying dead eyed and staring at him was burned into the back of his mind. He'd never forget it. Paul sighed.

  
"No... Just think back to that and then look at the tablecloth." Paul pointed at it. "That's Sam's blood. It was all blue until Hidgens killed the infection, what if we can kill it without killing our friends? What if we can get them back?" He looked around, giving everyone a moment to think through his idea. Emma immediately nodded and looked up.

  
"I have an idea about that..." She tapped her finger on the table as she thought back to everything Hidgens had taught her. "Electricity. Electricity kills viruses! Yes, that's it! I need a car battery or something!" She pulled away from the table, looking around at the group. 

  
"You're a genius!" Paul smiled and moved closer to her. "Come on, Hidgens probably has one somewhere. Do you know where his car is?" He asked, met with a sigh and head shake from Emma.

  
"He lost his driver’s license years ago... Even though Ted and I let him drive earlier." She kicked at the table slightly. "What about we search his lab? Surely he has some there for school supplies?" She shrugged and Paul nodded, looking towards the basement stairs. 

  
"Just through there then." He made his way to the door. "Tom, Ted, stay here, we'll come up with a way of getting them all back, we promise." He smiled slightly at them as he began to take the stairs down to the basement, Emma in tow. There was an odd noise as they entered the dark stairwell. A dripping noise and an occasional burst of light from the blown-out light. If Paul looked at it close enough, he could see the bullet hole through the glass surrounding the bulb. He had been right about the 'trigger happy' thing. He sighed and focused on the ground, trying to not slip over on the stone stairs. The dark and being clumsy was a very bad combo. He looked back to Emma, but he couldn't see her as they both tried to focus on not falling over. The dripping noise seemed to get louder as they reached the second door to the lab. It was a hollow echo, a bucket or something catching whatever made the noise. It was an unsettling sound. 

  
"It's probably a leak..." Emma sensed Paul's discomfort as she joined him. "Crap, it's locked." She sighed and slammed her palm against the door. She sighed and looked down at the lock above the doorknob. She played with the lock, trying to undo it. It was stuck and jammed. How her elderly professor managed to open it daily was beyond her. She forced her foot against the door as she tried to pull the bolt out. It had gone eerily quiet, just the dripping, an echo of the sound and the squeaking of the lock, Emma's struggling huffs alongside it. She thought Paul was still beside her, but he had gone quiet, apart from the occasional shaky breath. She stepped away from it, frustrated. 

  
"Can you pick it?" Paul asked as he stepped closer, allowing Emma to see him now that he was close enough. "I could get Ted... He probably knows what to do." It wasn't exactly received very well by the woman who kicked the door in response. There was a snapping sound and a clatter as the loose screws in the door fell to the ground. 

  
"No need." Emma smirked and pulled the rickety door open. It revealed the darkened lab, a dim glow coming from a lamp in the corner, over a journal. The pair took a slow walk around the room. There were plant pots in one corner, wild weeds and untamed plants falling across each other. This appeared to be the one part of the house Hidgens hadn't organised. There were tables of test tubes and quickly sketched notes, sticky notes decorating walls and pens scattered everywhere. Then Paul saw something truly disgusting. Sam's corpse. It was just leant against a cabinet, the spheres of blue goo that had gathered in his eyes was leaking out of the sockets, leaving them open for Paul to see. He shuddered and looked over at Emma. She was leant over the Professor's desk, reading his writing, a grimace on her face.

  
"Bad?" He asked quietly, trying to look over her shoulder. She just shut the book.

  
"Don't worry about it... It isn't science related." She took the book, tucking it under her arm and pulling away from Paul. That was when the two of them looked at the centre table. There she was. Charlotte's body was there, eyes closed in a peaceful sleep. Her innards missing and a gaping hole through her body. She was crying her own blood from under her closed eyelids, the steady drip of the pathogen leaving her body and lending in a rusty bucket by her side. there was surgical equipment around her, bloody and with a soft, purple tinge on the tips. Recently used.

  
"Gross." Paul sighed as he stepped away, distracting himself with Hidgens' notes on the walls. They were disorganised but he could vaguely understand the messy text.

>   
>  _'Inhuman- lacking qualities of sympathy, pity, warmth, compassion, or the like; cruel; brutal.'_
> 
>   
>  _'Exactly as predicted.'_
> 
>   
>  _'Pathogens/Viruses/Bacteria- killed by electricity'_

  
"You were right." Paul sighed as he read through them all. "The professor had some wild theories, huh?" He turned around to look at her. She looked over as well and gave a small smile.

  
"Yeah... He did." She stepped over to him, trying to think through something clearly. "Hey... Paul, I have to ask you something. I know you mean nothing by this but, uh, why do you keep trying to hold my hand? I have no real issues... just, we don't really know each other..." That caused a blush to rise in his cheeks, forcing his eyes down. 

  
"I just got worried about you... I wanted to comfort you, I'm sorry if I'm weird." He had trouble explaining himself at times. "I should stop." He shook his head slightly.

  
"No, no, you don't have to." Emma looked up at him, trying to put herself in his eyeline. "I like it, it helps..." She carefully reached forward, holding his hand with a small smile. She was awkward about it. The handhold was uncomfortable, but it felt comfortable for them. It was a messy metaphor for how they were. They dealt with each other's issues; they had a strange pull towards each other. It was nice. They were both just locked in tense eye contact, her looking up and him bending slightly as to not embarrass her about her height. Then Paul broke it.

  
"Sorry... I shouldn't stare." He chuckled to himself. Emma just rolled her eyes and grabbed his arm.

  
"Shut up, fucking idiot." She leant up and kissed him, catching him off guard immediately. She almost pulled away at his evident shock but then he wrapped an arm around her, pulling her closer to him. He was purposely being gentle with her, petrified that she'd realise this was wrong and pull away. But she did none of that, letting him continue. They were locked into this embrace until the need for air separated them, Paul letting out small, anxious laughter. Emma rolled her eyes with a small smile.

  
"That was good." He complimented uncomfortably.

  
"It was." She chuckled. "But, I'm sorry for calling you an idiot." The mood had changed, the room was no longer a cause of unease for Paul after this development. But then he realised something. The dripping had stopped, the room was quiet. That was when he looked back at the centre table. It was empty.

  
Then he felt something grip his hair and slam his head onto the stone table.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They did a kiss! Now die.


	18. Caught

Paul let out a pained yelp as he felt the impact of the cold table against his forehead. Pain exploded through his skull as the action repeated. Someone had a tight, unforgiving grip on his hair, forcing the repeated bashes to his skull. He could hear Emma beside him, screaming as she was subjected to the same treatment. That made him angrier than he was already. He could handle his own pain but not the pain of others. He wanted everyone to get out and he couldn't guarantee that when he was being beaten to death. He struggled against the grip, but it just got tighter, harsher. It wasn't the same hold. There were two hands, one around the back of his neck, helping the first beat his head against the stone table, but Emma was still screaming. Then she fell quiet and the grip loosened, allowing Paul to fall to his knees on the ground. He immediately reached for Emma, blurry vision not allowing him to locate her. He felt a hand entwine with his own and saw the woman beside him, looking up at someone in pure terror. He tried to follow her gaze despite his lack of vision. And the sight before him was truly fearsome. Shocking. Confusing.

Sam and Charlotte where standing above them, fully returned to their alien forms. The bullet hole through same skull was dripping and gory, the inside of his blue brain visible and oozing. Charlotte didn't look much better. Her cartoonish blue guts were present as usual, hanging out as a symbol of how she had been mercilessly slaughtered by a man who should have loved her. Her death was one Paul would never wish upon anyone. They were both smiling in disgusting levels of enjoyment, watching the two at their feet suffer as blood dripped from the point of impact. Even the aliens could be reborn. They couldn't be stopped. 

"Paul..." Emma mumbled softly, moving her hand up his arm to pull him closer to him. The very little light in the room was overpowered by the cold blue glow of the couple above them and their exposed organs, making the horrible state of their bodies clearer. Something had reawakened them. Paul only had one response to that fact as he tried his best to sweep Charlotte's legs from beneath her. The woman stumbled slightly. Giving Paul enough time to grip onto the table's edge, hauling himself to his feet, standing just taller than Sam. 

"Bold of you to think that would work Paul..." Sam chuckled as he advanced slightly. "You are the one the hive wants, and we will have you." He glared and got closer. Paul forced himself to look away from the eyes.

"You can't get us. Emma and I refuse." He carefully tried to pull the woman to her feet, but she suddenly cried out in pain at the contact. He tried to stay strong, holding himself up despite the pain. He looked down at his friend, able to make out the blood running down her head. Charlotte was standing over her now, gripping her head in a way that it seemed like she was about to crush her skull. Emma was staring back at him, tear filled eyes begging for his help.

"Really Paul?" Sam laughed in a low tone, gesturing to Emma on the ground. "You really think she can get away from us? Or are you just going to abandon her like you did with the others at the high school? You know we have everything you want. If you join us, you can take over. You don't need to fear us." His tone was chilling, complimented by his appearance. He was trying to pull Paul closer, convince him to help them. Help them destroy Hatchetfield. Make him a musical alien.

"I'd rather die." Paul glared, find something within himself. a confidence he didn't know he had. "Let Emma go. Right now. You aren't our friends, whatever you're trying to do, you'll fail." He reached for Emma again, letting his hand drift towards her as he kept his eyes locked on the infected. He was hoping they hadn't noticed. He was hoping he could pull her up while the infected where unsuspecting. The room went silent. Odd. All other altercations he'd had with the infected ended with a song. But these two weren't, they were both looking at him. They were waiting. Not trying to infect him. That was even more frightening. They were planning something. He felt Emma take his hand gently, her grip was weak. blood gushing from her forehead. She had a trusting gaze on him, unsure on Paul's plan but on side with him none the less.

"Paul... Are you sure?" Charlotte's voice was very sing song. A strange version of her own. "What about Emma? You know you could never get her without us. She doesn't love you; she never will love you back. But we can make her love her. You want your chance." It was a twisted way of trying to recruit him to their side. They all knew exactly what Paul wanted and they would use it against him. That was how they had got everyone else. Paul tried to come up with an answer, some eloquent response or some way of talking them down. But he couldn't think of anything.

"Fuck you." Paul pulled Emma up, knowing Charlotte off balance at the sudden movement and tugging her through the basement, toward the small hatch he could see at the other staircase. The couple were blocking the door back to the house as Sam steadied Charlotte. This was their only choice. Paul ran up the stairs in desperation, able to see more as they got close to the back exit. He pushed it open, not looking at his surroundings as he tried to pull himself and Emma through.

That was what the infected had been hoping for. The alien cluster crowded around them, reaching and trying to trap them. Emma struggled as she felt two pairs of arms pulling her away from Paul. She was haunted by the familiar faces staring down at her. Hidgens was the one restraining her along with Bill, the Hive knowing that they could get to the pair most. She watched Paul experience the same treatment. The teenage boy from before along with another girl were hitting him. The boy's knee slamming repeatedly into Paul's nose. This was their fate. The hive refused to lose. Paul was the one they needed. Emma was how to keep him there; hold back the strength he didn't know he had. If he had her, he would never want to leave. The peaceful night turned into screams and shouting as infected stormed the house. The rest dragging Paul and Emma out of the front gate. The rough stones and gravel digging into Emma's skin as she was pulled by the wrists. She slipped on dirt as she tried to get back up to her feet. Dig her heels in. Something. Get out of the grip. But they didn't stop. 

"What the fuck?!" 

She could hear Ted's voice behind them, profuse swearing as he was pulled along with them. Strange as well. Why were they keeping him alive? Ted wasn't that beneficial to the group. They didn't need him. But then again, the hive probably wouldn't have any purpose for him. Emma wouldn't blame them if they didn't want to make him join them. She managed to look away from Ted fighting away from the hold. Despite the unimaginable joy of seeing Ted in pain. Paul was dragged beside her. He wasn't resisting, tears flowing down his face as he kept his eyes on the ground. She didn't know what to say. How could she make him feel better when they were dragged towards their inevitable doom? She followed his lead, relaxing. They'd die and that was that. There was no way to get out.


	19. Three to go

Tom Houston had already lost everything. His wife had died not even a year ago yet, he had watched the infected parade around with his son's corpse not even giving him the dignity of an infected life. He had nothing left to lose and nothing left to give. That was why he hadn't tried to fight back. He had been sat at the dining table, eyes scanning the blood-soaked tablecloth. A better choice than trying to make conversation with the man beside him. Ted had been swearing under his breath, drinking from a bottle he'd seemingly produced out of nowhere. Tom almost wanted to join him. Drink the pain and suffering away. Drink away the shadows and the flashbacks and everything that had haunted him over the years. If he was going to be stuck in a house with his sister in law, the woman he blamed for his wife's misery, he might as well enjoy himself. But he couldn't. He was so broken and destroyed that he couldn't even find joy or solace in drinking. He could barely hold himself up anymore.

Ted was beside him. He too was barely coming to terms with the new state of Hatchetfield. The fact that it was only him and few others. The fact that the only woman he'd ever felt anything for was dead. He had gotten up, moving towards the chairs the professor's living area. He ran his hand gently over one of the recliners and frowned. The blood that stained his hand when he pulled it away was Charlottes. The small, pale entrails behind the couch were of Charlotte's too. Hidgens hadn't bothered to clean it up and that made him angrier. He wanted revenge. Or something, anything that would get his mind off of Charlotte and what had happened. He had tried with the crabby barista but even she rejected his advances. He had tried earlier on the drive with the professor, but it hadn't gone any better. And as much as he wanted to stick it to the woman, going after her brother in law would be weird. And Ted isn't that bad.

Both men stood there, thinking in silence. Neither liked each other exactly but they had some weird, mutual sense of hatred for the other two. Well, not hatred. Just general dislike and unwillingness to follow the other two into the basement. Ted had convinced Tom that Emma and Paul needed their privacy anyway. That man had some weirds plans involving the pair that Tom hadn't cared to listen to. Silence was between them, no noise travelling from the basement.

That's why they were both so shocked when they heard the door open but didn't see Paul or Emma. To Tom it was just two walking corpses, him grabbing the gun from the table despite the way his hand shook slightly at the feel of the cool handle of the weapon. Ted however, backed away in shock horror, screaming a name at the woman who approached, begging "Charlotte" not to kill him. Tom tried to raise the gun, get one of the aliens, the man, in his eyeline. Shoot it. Aim. Kill it. He was screaming at himself, but he couldn't pull the trigger. He was frozen on the spot. That was why when the man approached him, he panicked. He threw his foot towards the creature that approached him. But it grabbed his leg, pulling it sharply and sending Tom tumbling to the floor. Fight it. Yell. Get up. He kept pressuring himself, trying to remember his training or anyway to escape. But there was none. 

He could feel his mind shutting down as he was lifted by several other infected who found their way inside. Tom wasn't conscious enough to consider how they had. He could feel bruises starting to form from where he hit the ground. The bruises from the infected kicking him in the side. He could hear Ted shouting, trying to hear what he was saying but he couldn't make sense of it. He could feel the tears in his eyes as he was carried back outside and towards the gate. He tried to pull away again, but the grip was too tight.

He looked across at the other horde of the aliens, carrying the bodies of the other two. He couldn't even make out if they were alive. While Ted and Tom were being lifted above the ground, both Emma and Paul were being dragged across it. They both looked half dead. Blood was smeared across Paul's head, his eyes shut tightly. Tom had no idea how the infected had got to all of them. Why had Emma and Paul let them in? He hadn't heard any glass breaking so they have to had come through a door. Well, they appeared to have Emma's teacher. Perhaps that was how they knew. Tom was struggling to pay attention again.

Ted had also finally gone silent. No longer struggling or hurling abuse at the creatures holding him. The faces surrounding him was too much. People he knew. He could see ex-partners of his, friends, his co-workers. Most of the tiny town was now focused on dragging the four of them somewhere. He wasn't able to tell yet. He tried to look anywhere but at Charlotte. But she was trying to catch his eyes. They were trying to make his last moments as painful as they could. Making sure the people around him were those he knew best. He could see that they had taken the same route with the others. He could see Paul, joined by Bill dragging him by his wrists. And a teenager alongside them, holding hands with another girl. Ted hadn't seen the first teenager in years, but he still recognised Alice, even with the goo streaming from her mouth. He assumed it was her much hated girlfriend beside her, the two taking unending joy in slamming their feet into Paul's stomach. Giggling every time he let out a verbal sound of pain. It was even too painful for Ted. He looked away, to Emma. Her situation wasn't much better. Her professor was pulling her, veins in his neck a vivid blue as a syringe still stabbed into them, stuck into his flesh. His lips were moving but Ted couldn't hear what. He noticed two of the other Beanies girls, the blue glow from their lips illuminating their faces in the dark. They both had a grip on Emma's ankles, lifting her up and sinking their nails deeply into her legs. She screamed, shaking, blood bubbling around the points where their fingers were digging in. The blood their matching that on her forehead. She was sobbing and shaking, trying to force her eyes away from them and over to Paul. Ted looked away too. They were all suffering at the hands of the infected and Ted was hoping for it to be over. Well, over by Paul, Emma or the other guy dying. Ted didn't exactly want himself to meet the same gruesome fate as the others.

But that was too much to wish for. He felt the tight grip on his wrists and ankles relax as his body hit the ground with a thud. He resisted the urge to cry out as pain surged through his back. He couldn't show his weakness. He felt Emma dropped on his outstretched arm. The second he turned his head to her, and she caught his eye, she tried to shift off it, but she couldn't move. One of the residents was holding her down, boot pressed into her chest as they all looked up in horror. They saw the crowd part as Hannah, Ethan and Hidgens passed through the group, Lex and Alice by their sides with guns raised. Hidgens smirked down at them.

"We're not fucking letting you cheat us this time." He growled at them, cocking the shot gun in his hand. "Who wants to go first?" He pointed it at each of them one by one, taking joy in the way they all shrunk under his gaze. The only one who didn't was Ted. That was the target. Hidgens looked at one group of the infected, snapping his fingers at them. The undead figures lumbered towards them. Hands wrapping underneath Emma, Paul and Tom's shoulders and hauling them to their feet, leaving Ted at Hidgens' mercy. Paul started to fight back, trying to tug away from them.

"Don't hurt him!" He shouted; he didn't care that much but he didn't want to see his co-worker murdered in front of him. He could feel hands pressing into his wrists, surely leaving bruises as he tried to get away, protesting. Ted was staring up at him, his surprise present. Hidgens did an action that was almost rolling his eyes. But he didn't have any. 

"Shut him up. Don't let him ruin our fun." 

At that, Paul felt fingers curl over his mouth. He winced; he knew they would kill him now. He stayed still as the infected turned back to Ted with a cold stare. Hidgens circled around him, silently thinking. Before he called someone to his side. A man stepped from the hive and handed something to Hidgens. 

"Do as you please." The man smirked at him as Hidgens knelt beside Ted's head, unwrapping what he'd been given. Ted's eyes widened as Hidgens removed the object. He shuddered as he saw the knife sliding into Hidgens' hand. He smirked wickedly and pointed it at his forehead. Then Ted's world faded to black and pain. He could feel the cool knife pressing into his cheeks as a perfect incision was made around his face. Then nothing after that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So close to the end wooo, and yes, Ted's face got cut off. He deserves it.   
> Have this disaster of a chapter.


	20. The answer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapters a bit bad and short :/… I tried my best, something about this chapter, because it's a bit of filler before the final two parts, I just had a tough time figuring out how to right this one. I've just had really terrible writers block but I managed to write one other fic so... idk. Hope you liked it, sorry it's late!

Emma let out a pure scream of horror as she saw Ted's face separated from his head. She was holding back the need to throw up as the infected cackled madly, the professor approaching the now lifeless body of Ted. Emma couldn't watch. She didn't what to see what they planned to do to the corpse. She turned her head slowly pulling against the tight grip on her neck. She managed to focus on Paul. On the tears streaming down his face. He was forcing himself to look at the blood now littering the ground, not look at the limp body that had once belonged to his co-worker. Now belonging to the hive.

"Who now?" There was the haunting voice again, coming from her Professor as he stepped away from their dead friend. He pointed the knife in his hand at Emma's throat first. Ted's blood was dripping off the end, falling onto the ground and darkening patches of the ground. She tensed as he brought it closer, sliding it gently across her throat, gently, not pressing in or causing any cuts along her skin. She shivered in fear at the touch.

"Please... Professor... I know you're still in there... Don't." She looked at him, trying to force out the man she knew was in there. He seemed to recognise for a second, eyebrows raising slightly, she could almost hear someone shouting, fighting back. But the infection overpowered it. He pressed the knife in slightly. He broke the skin slightly by her collarbone, not actively going to kill her yet. She let out a breath, relieved that she wasn't going by slit throat yet. The man moved on, away from her and looking at the other two beside her, going through the same process of gently pressing the knife against them, hoping for a reaction. Paul didn't give him one. The blade was dragged down the veins in his neck, causing him to shudder against the contact. Emma watched as he moved on, frowning at Paul's resistance. Emma looked at her friend- well, after the kiss she doubted he was just her friend. He was staring straight ahead. An expression of his she'd seen a lot since they got into the Professor's house. It seemed like he was listening to someone, but there was no one in his eyeline. Emma frowned as she watched him finally tear his gaze away from the random point it had been fixated on. He swung his head slightly, eyes moving wildly as he realised that the Professor was no longer beside him, having moved onto Tom. Emma tried not to look at that.

She wouldn't care if Tom died, just about as little as she cared about Ted's gruesome ending. She hated her brother in law with everything she had. From the moment she met him, she knew he wasn't good enough for her sister. That was aided by her discovery that he had driven the car in the accident that had claimed Jane's life. But there was still that feeling of regret. He was the only other person, who would talk to her, that had any memories of Jane. Their talking may be angry and senseless bickering but at least it was evident that they both cared and wanted to recover from their loss. She kept her eyes away from Tom and his suffering at the hands of the hive. The slight noises of pain coming from him. It wasn't real. They would get out. She tried to promise herself. Eyes shut as the sounds stopped, the Professor pacing again. She could track his movements as he listened closely. She moved from Tom to Paul, taking a moment, pausing, considering him. Then the footsteps picked up again, towards her now. Oh god. If he was choosing who to kill next and he hadn't taken the others, then it was surely her. As hands enclosed her wrists and tugged her forwards onto the ground, she knew she was right. Silent tears resigned to her fate as the infected commented on how they were going to be rid of her. Decapitation. Drowning. Hanging. Crushing. She couldn't listen anymore, silently screaming as she sobbed loudly. Hands pulling her up, putting her in a kneeling position. The sound got louder, all of the infected mocking her. Her worst traits repeated again and again. Selfish. Unkind. Inconsiderate. Then another, kinder but just as loud voice broke the sound.

"Stop!" Paul shouted, breaking from Bill's grip and charging towards them, trying to pull the infected off of Emma. It was a weird thing, seeing Paul so mad for the first time as he tried to fight back. Two men rushed forward, trying to restrain the unhinged man, but he didn't let them. The infected had been showing unnatural amounts of strength the whole night, but now Paul was too, managing to shove them off as he tried to get to Emma. He was shouting too, screaming something she couldn't make out as other infected tackled him.

"Get him!" Hidgens growled, moving forward to help, leaving Emma alone on the ground. She looked around for an exit as the infected condensed around Paul. She could see fists slamming into Paul's face, feet flying into his stomach as he tried to get away. She felt someone grab her arm, assuming that she was about to be dragged into the chaos. But they pulled her backwards, someone trying to get her away. She looked up to make eye contact with Tom. She started to pull away, yell at him maybe. She was overcome with emotions. She had nothing to say but she was too emotionally burnt out by the day. Tom just put a finger up to his lips, shushing her as he tried to get her away.

"I have a plan... I know how we can get them all back... Save Paul." That promise sounded too good to be true, but Emma had ridiculous amounts of faith in it. She had no choices but trust Tom as he managed to drag her away from the group, pulling her behind a fence, someone's yard.

"We need to go back to Paul..." She glared up at her brother in law. "He would always go back for you! We need to go!" She didn't keep her voice down, being stuck with Tom would be the worst possible scenario and she wouldn't risk it.

"No... No, we can't go back to him, not without a plan." He huffed, looking over the fence. "He's still alive... They're keeping him alive for some reason. Which means we have time to kill them off." He sighed and pulled something out of his pocket. Emma frowned as he put his phone on the ground and slammed his boot onto it, trying to break part of it open.

"What are you doing?" Emma asked in a hushed voice as Tom pulled his Phone's battery out, hissing a little at the broken glass and various acid's escaping his phone.

"It's not enough but we can use it to scare them off... We need to get a car battery." He huffed and looked around. "You were right... I tested something while you were in the lab. I turned the blue shit back into blood... We can save them all."

* * *

_'They figured it out. You're finished.'_

'We'll just have to ruin that chance then.'


	21. The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the second last! Lets go!

Paul struggled in the hands of old friends and fellow residents of this town. He tried to pull away slightly but none of his limbs were working. He could feel his own shattered wrists, broken from the infected forcing all their weight onto his arms, boots crushing ligaments and causing chunks of bone to jut out of his arm at strange angles. The feet then were targeted to his head once they made sure he couldn't fight back. He could feel blood leaking from where their shoes made contact with his temples. The pain kept coming, hundreds of people managing to hit Paul, practically climbing over each other for a chance to beat their greatest adversary. Two people had grabbed his ankles, he thought it was going to be something simple, him pulled out of the ring. But what happened was worse. He felt blood pouring out of them as they began to cut into them. They wouldn't let him go. He screamed louder, crying as he tried to dig his nails into the ground. His wrists and feet were killing him as they began to back away from him. Leaving him a crying, writhing mess. He felt two arms snake their way under his shoulders and pulling him up onto his sliced apart feet. He screamed louder, the infected making sure his weight rested on them. He looked around despite the tears in his eyes. As awful as he felt, it would be worth it if Emma was unharmed. Then he noticed, Emma and Tom had run away. 

  
He didn't blame them in any way. This situation was awful for all of them and as long as Emma was ok, Paul was happy. But he didn't want to die. It felt like he needed to reconsider everything after this. Why was he putting himself on the line for the others? He felt like he should. The voice in his head was pushing him to defend Emma. To have dashed forward like he did. He had to save them. But he knew it was now at the cost of his own life. Either from all the blood escaping his body or from some other sick plans they had for the man. He couldn't feel his feet anymore, unable to hold himself up even with the infected's help. He had no hope to escape, no hope of being free. All he had was gone already. It was only just occurring to him now. What about his friends in Hatchetfield? What about his sister? What if the infected got to the mainland? Killed his parents? It was all gone. He could accept this now. If he was going to die, at least it was protecting Emma. He hoped Tom could keep up what he started. He managed to raise his head, staring into the cold, vibrant, blue eyes of Bill, Charlotte beside him, Ted and Sam both with their arms around the woman. The four of them. Shadows of the life he was about to lose. His friends were going to be the ones to take his life. They were going to take joy in seeing him die. They were going to watch him torn apart in any number of gruesome ways. Maybe they would never even infect him? Actually. He hoped they wouldn't, as terrified as he was, he stood by his morals of musicals being the one thing wrong with the world. But that couldn't be on his mind now.

  
He tried to take in everything the aliens were mocking him on. Shouting and whispering things to him, their level of noise fluctuating every few seconds. Then it became clearer to him as some form of a melody picked up. Block it out. Don't listen. Suffer through it, think about Emma, you can keep them distracted long enough for her to get away. He could be the one to end this. And he'd let it happen. 

  
_'Don't give up. Don't stop.'_

  
The voice was back, hissing in his ears, sound reverberating in his brain. That... thing was still in there, trying to force him to stay around. He didn't want to. He tried to argue back, show it how much pain he was in. Hoping that whatever it was could also feel his blood beginning to drain from his body. That it could tell that he wasn't in any state to fight back. He could feel the infected nearing, hands on him, singing into his ears. He shuddered again, trying to pull away from their touches. It was a frightening situation. Hostile creatures nearing him and attempting to tear him apart. He tried to think of something else. Anything else. But everything he thought of brought him back to his current situation. Work? Mr Davidson was right there with the blue goo leaking from his mouth. His friends? That one was self-explanatory. His attention drawn to the line around Ted now stuck back on face, the blue liquid practically stapling it back onto his head. Parts peeled back, revealing his skull peeking through. No. Stop thinking about it. Think about something else. Emma? The horrors at the coffee shop. Last night? The meteor, the beginning of it all. The reason the infected were there. The brain of the hive.

  
If they could destroy it then perhaps, they could kill off the virus. It was the same idea Emma had earlier about the electricity. What if it was applied to the meteor? What if they could get to the Starlight? End this now. If only Emma was there. Her brother in law too. The three of them could get out of this. Come back. He tried to will them to come back. Would it work? He didn't know, but he hoped it would. Why had they run away? Did they not care? Did they want him to die alone? Stop thinking that! He was fine. They would come back! They had to. They would. He relaxed again, wincing at the infected pushing pieces of his bones in his wrists around. Their delight in playing with the parts of him they had broken already. 

He tried not to scream and fight back as they continued torturing him. This was all it was going to be. Then he heard a car horn. The music stopped. The infected looked up to the road coming towards the town square. There was a banged up old car making its way down it, faster than it should have been going on a normal road. It sped towards them, the infected beginning to stumble back and away, realise it was about to crash into them. Paul winced, closing his eyes as he prepared for the impact to be the thing that ended him. But it never came. 

He opened his eyes to see Tom and Emma slamming the junky car to a stop as the infected fanned out to defend themselves from the crash, Paul's weakened body hitting the ground. They had come back for him. But he couldn't get there. He couldn't stand, he couldn't push himself up. He couldn't get to his friends. It's not like they'd risk their lives for him. Not even Emma would despite their kiss earlier. He tried to call out, a silent, squeaking noise came from his throat instead, winded from hitting the ground.

"Get them!" It was an enraged voice, at first Paul assumed it came from the infected hordes, realising that the pair in the vehicle were their other two opponents. But it wasn't. Tom threw open one of the car doors, gun in hand as the weapon began spewing bullets towards the creatures, who had now begun to move forward as they made sense of the situation. Paul tried to peel himself off the ground, Tom was here to help him, he could get away without the pain of dying like his friends had. Then the second door opened, Emma managing to stumble out. There was a large cut up her leg, Paul couldn't help but wonder where it had come from, what had caused it. She staggered towards them, the professor's handgun in one hand and the other reaching towards Paul's collapsed form.

"Tom's covering us." She whispered as she gripped onto his damaged and broken wrists, she knew how much pain he would be in, but she had to in order to get him up. She managed to loop one of his arms over her shoulders, forcing him to hop on one bloody foot towards the car as Tom's unending barrage of bullets struck down the once-humans of Hatchetfield behind them. That was even more sickening. The sound of the lead burying itself in its targets' brains. Those were good people, still in their own bodies, watching the bullets flying but unable to protect themselves. But that wasn't what was important. Emma hauled Paul into the backseat, grimacing at the sight of his wounds. She didn't need to ask him about it now. What mattered is that they got to safety. Her, Tom and Paul had each cracked separate parts of the puzzle and that was what mattered. They could kill off the infected in one fell swoop if they were clever about it. They just needed a dedicated hour before they were prepared to go into it. 

"The meteor..." Paul mumbled slightly, looking up at Emma with hazy eyes, eyelids starting to close. "Destroy the meteor, electrocute it." He let out a cough as his eyes started to close. Emma swore under her breath, looking for something to stay the bleeding. There was an old towel on the ground. Emma had no idea what it had been used for. What diseases did it have on it? She didn't know but she picked it up anyway as she wrapped it around his feet, constricting them slightly but managing to compress it enough.

"We can do it... I know we can, but you need to stay awake for me, ok?" She said softly, climbing into the car as well, kneeling in the space between the front and back seats. "Don't close your eyes, we're going to get you out of town, we can't do this alone. Honestly, no offence, but we're all dickheads, the three of us can't do it without each other. Paul let out a half-hearted chuckle at the insult despite his suffering. That gave Emma the even stronger will to survive as she made her way over into the front seat. Hands clasping around the wheel, looking out the open door to see Tom.

Tom was struggling amongst the group, trying to continue shooting as others managed to creep in behind him. He turned around to shoot the rest but that left the other side open. He looked from left to right. All the feelings that he'd managed to push away in order to protect the other two came rushing back. The stress of seeing aliens draw nearer to him. He panicked, unable to think. He fumbled with the trigger on the gun he was holding. Don't drop it. Keep shooting, you can still kill them. He couldn't. His breathing quickened as he continued looking around in distress.

Emma had to look away as he was grabbed. Even though there was something in her mind pulling her to get out. She should go save him; they were family. She should do it. she should help him. But she didn't. She pulled the door shut as she watched the infected pull Tom's arms behind his back holding him still. 

"Save him..." Paul mumbled, managing to move one of his arms towards the window. His wrist was limp and hanging but he still managed to gesture.

"No... No, Paul, it isn't about him." Emma was trying to convince herself too. She didn't want to get Paul even more hurt, or herself. But at the same time, her moral compass was pulling herself towards Tom. Stop it. In the apocalypse there was no point in trying to be moral or kind now. She put her foot on the accelerator, the car shuddering to life. She gripped the wheel as tightly as she could, beginning to drive as fast as possibly down the rocky, pothole ridden main road. She could hear Paul wail in pain as the car bounced slightly. She didn't know how she could help the man. She didn't know how to help anyone. She was acutely aware of her flaws; it was everything today that had caused it. Everyone she met brought it out. The Professor had shown her how cocky she was, how smart they both thought they were. How witty they thought they were. Then Ted was her equal when it came to their equally cruel and vindictive personalities. He was a darker reflection of how others must perceive her. She had never assumed herself as awful at that mad, but she was. Then Tom was the final straw. Now was when she was finally seeing it. She just abandoned the one person who helped her save Paul. She slammed her head against the steering wheel. Tears began to fall as she agitated the wound from Charlotte and Sam. Paul had saved her from that too. Everyone was saving her. Everyone was trying to help her get out safely. But she wasn't giving anyone the time of day. She wasn't giving anyone a chance, she wasn't helping. She wasn't worth their time. She panicked even more as she noticed several cars chasing them. 

One was a cop car, Sam driving, Ted and Charlotte in the backseat. She had known from the moment she met that group that Sam didn't care about his wife. Hell, she could have both of those bastards. Ted and Sam were equally awful. Then there was her Professor, Ethan beside him, both hurling abuse. Ethan had something in his arms. She could tell it was a person. But she could tell it wasn't Tom or any regular person. It was one of the infected, another teenage boy. The Hive was allowing Ethan to torture one of its own, allowing him to twist a knife in his hand and stab it into an ever-regenerating body. Then the last car. Some woman Emma didn't recognise was driving it. Someone had Tom in the back, trapped in a headlock and another teenager beating her fists into Tom's face. The rest of the infected were in ranks behind the car. They were all glaring, eyes locked onto Emma as she tried to speed up. Paul was still screaming however, distracting her. She couldn't focus. The chase, her newfound friend and partner suffering in the back. Her arms twisted, veering off the road. But that gave them an advantage. They were nearing again. Maybe they were about to crash into the car. Give her a death like her sister's. But she couldn't leave Paul behind. She saw the car driven by the strange woman keeping pace as they accelerated through the backstreets. She saw how close the car was getting but she couldn't go any faster.

"Paul... I'm sorry." Her tone was soft as, once again, the pair prepared for a crash. But, again, there wasn't a crash. The car was ahead of them, the woman looking back in the mirror. Her door opened. She saw a flash of red and hands pushing something. Then she heard a yell, felt the car jolt and heard a sickening noise from under the tires. Laughing. Cackling. Emma threw up. The other car got as close as they could, running over Tom's legs, rolling down their windows. Hands against the window, hands staining blood all over it. Tom's blood. Blood from the man they had forced beneath her car. That was what they had been hoping for. Her selfishness and sense of self-importance got in the way of morality. That's what the hive knew humanity was, a sick twisted society who had no sense of justice. Emma had personified that tonight. She drove faster, Paul shuddering in the back seat. He was convulsing as he lost blood. Get to the theatre. Get to the theatre. She could see the blue glow from further down the street. Close as she could be. She had just murdered Tom. She had just murdered her brother in law. She had just killed him with a car for the Hive's sick amusement.

"Not your fault..." Paul's voice was slurred as Emma saw the entrance to the theatre. "The voice is talking... We need to go together." She had no time to question the claim. to question whatever voice Paul was hearing. She trusted him. The infected were still giving chase. But they were prepared. While Paul had been suffering, Emma and Tom had managed to find the perfect car. Battery accessible. She cut a corner sharply, relishing in the sound of two cars slamming against a wall. It felt weird to be cheering a car accident, but this was what needed to be done. She looked at the entrance to the theatre before pressing her foot down. Car slamming through the entrance, wood panelling and doors shattering as she drove toward the meteor in the main hall. Infected were still there, running closer, arms swinging. She pulled up in front of it, pulling her shirt over her noise. She wasn't going to risk the spores of the pathogens turning her and Paul. She grabbed something Tom had found within the back seat, two jumper cables.

"I'm not letting us die." She mumbled to herself, getting out of the car, looking down at the infected running in. She smirked. She felt powerful as she lifted the front of the car, waving the cables at them all. She smirked as she attached them, feeling them, all draw closer.

"Emma, we can fix everything... Give you all you want." It was Hidgens, as close as possible. grabbing her arm, tugging her forward, letting the cables fall from her hands. He brought a hand up, forcing her to look at the group. Ted. Charlotte. Bill. Ethan. Hannah. Everyone who they'd lost along the journey. They were trying to get her to join them. She wanted to. She took a step closer until she heard footsteps behind her. Slow and squelching. She turned to see Paul, gripping the two cables she had dropped. 

"Fuck you all." He glared and stabbed the two cables into the brain-like meteor. He reached out for Emma, managing to pull her from Hidgens as the man began shaking. He pulled her into a deep kiss as he convulsed too. His blood was draining fast. He collapsed too. The night is nothing but a bloodbath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. It took me 2 days to fully put together! It may be rushed but I was happiest with this being chapter 21 so chapter 22 is the epilogue because for some reason it made me happier haha. Thank you to everyone who has been reading, it means everything.


	22. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took too long because assignments....

She sighed as she pulled her hair back from her face, slowly moving her legs over the side of the bed and pushing herself onto her feet. She looked at the alarm clock. One in the morning. Far too early for her on regular days but this wasn't one of those. She looked down at her current outfit, a black dress she had put on before bed. He had reminded her before bed how early they were leaving. Sleeping in it had been an easier option. She sighed, limping around the room to grab the bag they had packed. The trip never got any easier. It wasn't physically either. The emotional strain of visiting the memorial never helped. She looked at herself in the mirror. She was still exactly the same. The nightmares of turning never helped. Emma Perkins was still there.

Emma carefully opened the door from their bedroom out into the hallway, fixing her rumpled clothes, she wasn't going to get much better. He had insisted she was at least slightly formal for the anniversary. She sighed, blinking in the yellowy, dim hallway light. She was still trying to herself wake up. She kept wandering, almost tripping down the stairs as a small creature raced past her feet. She huffed and gripped the handrail as she descended the stairs into the hall between their kitchen and living room. She called out to her partner.

"I'm going to fucking murder the cat I swear." She was met by a chuckle as the warm light of the kitchen was cast upon Paul's face. He smiled over at her, leant over the cutting board. She softened. As much as she hated his choice of pet, she still loved him, tomorrow marked an important day after all.

"Toby's not harming anyone." Paul chuckled, pressing down against the knife handle, cutting up what would make up their meals for the next day. "Are you ready to go?" He looked back at her out of the corner of his eye. She had no idea how he could remain so cheerful in the middle of the night, but he was. And she loved that.

"Of course, I am." She smiled, leaning up to kiss her boyfriend's cheek. She played with the edge of her dress as she waited for a reply from the man at the kitchen bench. Paul chuckled softly, finishing by stacking various containers into a bag. He turned to her with a smile before dumping the board and various utensils into the sink.

"Promise me you'll stay awake for at least three quarters of the drive this time?" He visibly winced when the jet of water hit the old scars marring his arms, wrist too weak to lift a lot still. But he was recovering.

"I'm not staying awake for sixteen hours. Entertain yourself." Emma snorted as she took the bag from the bench. It was heavy but that was what they needed to travel halfway across the country. She shifted onto her more comfortable leg.

"You always make me drive." He huffed, turning to her, he had a face resembling that of an upset child. He was trying to wind her up. "You've only driven once and that was two months ago." His voice took on a whiny tone as he wrapped his arms around her, leaning onto her. She let out a small chuckle as she tried to hold the man up, letting him take the pressure off of his feet,

"Because it's twenty-two hours, and your cat doesn't shut up the whole time." She looked up at him, carefully moving him off of her. "Can we please get rid of him?" She was really kidding about it, but she was genuinely threatened by the cat. Paul rolled his eyes.

"He hasn't done anything wrong. Anyway, they said we could bring Toby with us, so we are." Paul shrugged as he went through to their lounge room, bags packed as the moonlight became visible through one of the windows. He felt something claw at his leg and turned to see his cat waiting to be picked up. He grinned, putting their luggage down and picked him up, cradling the cat. Emma rolled her eyes.

"He's not a baby, don't treat him like one." She huffed, picking up the cat carrier. "Little bugger goes in here. Last month he tried to climb onto the front seat and sleep on my face. Cat or girlfriend Matthews?" She chuckled slightly as he leant over her, holding Toby close. The cat was glowering at her. He didn't approve of Paul's choice.

"Fine. I'll put him in the back but, once we get to Clivesdale he can walk around the house. They're fine with us bringing him every time, it’s practically his second home." Paul shrugged as he gently placed their pet into the cat carrier. There was a loud yowl once he was in. Emma rolled her eyes.

"That's because we go there once a month. After tomorrow we should really cut back. It means a lot for a few months. But PEIP did tell us to stop... You made it obvious..." Emma sighed, picking up her backpack off the ground. Despite the injuries she still had, she kept carrying on. They were both carrying on together.

"Come on." He kissed her cheek as he picked up his own bag and the cat carrier, Toby still practically screaming inside. He sighed as they both stepped out of their house once again. It had become a tradition for the pair of them to wake up before dawn monthly. It was a normal, slow drive they took. Together. Radio on, Toby in the back, talking about whatever came to their minds. Watching the shadows of the trees as they left for their late-night road trip. Emma still felt bad. In the passing time, and with Paul's help, she had become far less selfish than before. Not enough to not force him to drive for almost a day. But he never really complained. Humming to himself through those few hours he was alone. They both knew the drill as they piled into the beaten up, old car. Emma taking longer as she locked their house. She looked up at the sky. Rain clouds once again. She shuddered.

There were some things she had seen during that night that were still haunting her. Music was one for her. That's why Paul waited until she was asleep if he had a song stuck in his head. Never musicals but general music. Emma's shudder at the sky was fuelled by her worry for Paul. Both had a lot to get over. She sighed and got in the passenger’s seat. There was nothing inherently upsetting about driving for her, anymore. It had taken months to forget the memory of her brother in law's head crushed under the tires. Another shudder as she sat, looking to Paul, who had just finished strapping the cat carrier into the back.

"You can start by getting some sleep if you want... It's still the middle of the night." He sighed slightly as he climbed in, making sure to put his seatbelt on first before putting his hand on the wheel. Emma smiled at him and shook her head, opening her phone as she sat against the cool seats.

"It's fine. You're right. It gets lonely talking to yourself." She smiled at him. The car rumbled to life as Paul began driving into the night. The comfortable silence broken up by disgruntled meows from the backseat.

"He should be used to it by now." Paul rolled his eyes. "But you're right... After tomorrow we should stop going. I mean, I love seeing the regulars there. But we've kind of become like them." Paul chuckled slightly as he thought of the strange group of characters at the memorial every month. Emma rolled her eyes too.

"Lord knows I don't want to be in the same category as that dickwad Dale." Emma chuckled to herself. "Colourful characters. Glad you didn't choose to stay with him and Peter this time around. They're such pains...” She sighed slightly. Paul didn’t always approve of how unkind she could be, but this is what they always spent their twenty-two hours of driving doing, making fun of Dale.

They continued on like that for hours. Mocking. Bringing up names, tv shows, movies, anything they could find common ground on. It was enjoyable. They shared soft smiles with each other, Paul’s right hand moving from the wheel to rest on her hand. She gently ran her fingers over the scars and dips in his wrist. The bone was still missing in places, but the doctors had done their best. But he managed. They kept driving as Emma looked out the window at the passing streets of Colorado. She smiled as the dark turned to day, Toby finally falling asleep and allowing them to quieten their conversation. Birds squawked loudly as dawn broke.

The day was rather average after that. They ate on the road; the food Paul had packed in the cooler at twelve in the morning. Pulling over only once to feed Toby, let him out for a moment. They had more random discussions as they passed through multiple states, Paul cheering every time they crossed a border and Emma rolling her eyes in disappointment at her boyfriend. But it wasn’t exactly real. She loved him. She appreciated his goofy attitude. It was nice to have someone with her. But that didn’t last. After a few hours they both began to yawn. But only Emma was able to sleep. Paul rubbed his eyes as he continued driving, exhausted but he had to get them back to Clivesdale. He could rest after the memorial. He looked at the clock. Nine. Almost there. He turned on the radio, a loud female voice cutting over the radio.

“Tomorrow morning marks the one-year anniversary of the Hatchetfield catastrophe. Friends, family and average American citizens to gather at the Hatchetfield memorial in Clivesdale at the break of dawn. Once again saying their goodbyes to all those who passed away in the disaster. Despite multiple visitors coming monthly, this yearly gathering promises to be the biggest yet. While there are safety concerns for the citizens of Clivesdale, with the sheer numbers of people arriving in the town, all visitors only claim to be remaining in the town for a few hours. The broadcast will continue into the midnight moment of silence and a eulogy to the town that was gone too soon.”

Paul sighed and flicked the radio off as music began playing. He didn’t want to hear it; he knew it would wake Emma anyway. He sighed a little. Everything had changed in the time since they got out of Hatchetfield. He remembered the moments after he shocked the meteor. He had convulsed and fallen to the ground. Emma had spent the night trying to signal planes or helicopters, pressing against his wounds, trying to stop the bleeding. Then they had spent months with the military after they recovered. Spending time… retraining, preparing to re-enter society. Their new identities were simple. They would go on. Take on their new names, ages and move across the country. Although they had to beg for that, to be together. The soldiers had a point,  _ one person’s doppelganger was a coincidence, a couple’s was evidence of the Hatchetfield plot. _ But, after assuring that no one in the outside world knew of Paul and Emma’s bond, they were allowed to leave. Ben Bridges and Kelly Burkett, a normal couple living in Colorado. Knowing each other’s real identity but never able to say it. PEIP was always listening in on the pair of survivors. Emma called Paul, Ben. He called her Kelly. If they slipped up, even at home, they would be separated and renamed. Even accidentally saying each other’s names in private could cause them to fall into habit. Paul and Emma didn’t exist anymore.

But that didn’t stop the pain seeing old friends caused. America may be large but it seemed like Paul always ran into those he’d known in his previous life. It broke him every time they went to Clivesdale. It broke him to see his mother burst into tears each time she saw him, his father avoiding eye contact and holding onto her. He had come up to Paul the first time, asked for a name. He received Paul’s go to spiel. Ben Bridges, political campaign manager, traveling from other states for business, in a happy relationship with a local reporter. He had walked away after that. Paul had to watch from the outside of his family. He had noticed them growing apart. He couldn’t stop himself from running to the car and crying when he saw Paul’s father’s wedding ring disappear from his hand. Seeing his mother’s gravestone appear in the cemetery. He couldn’t say anything. He couldn’t bond with them, he was banned. He only had Emma. Only she still knew him, or at least he thought. He kept driving, eyes focused on the road, trying to keep his eyes open. He watched the clock. Ten. Eleven. Eleven thirty. Then he saw the sign.

‘ _ Welcome to Clivesdale, EST 1821 _ ’

Once again, he smiled. This would probably be their final time for a while. But he was ok with it. They were in a pile up of cars, everyone attempting to force their way into the town. Many here for the first times to pay their respects. Paul shook Emma gently to wake her.

“Fuck off…” She mumbled softly, covering her face and trying to curl up into the seat.

“Kelly, get up.” Paul’s tone was mocking, but he still felt strange. The only time he ever used that tone was back in Hatchetfield before it went haywire. Back when he could use her real name. But then Toby yowled, almost like he was copying Paul’s tone and Emma huffed.

“I actually hate him.” She sat up slightly, rubbing her eyes, then noticing their car wasn’t moving. “Asshole, don’t wake me up until we’re actually there.” He could tell she was joking, being crabby when tired was her brand.

“Well, I thought you’d want to be awake… So you can come up with good enough insults when you see who’s beside us.” He wound down his window and gestured to the two men walking down the street together towards the memorial. They were both clearly pointing at the people in the traffic jam, making fun of their cars and hairstyles, coffee in hand. One looked over and noticed.

“Ben, Karen!” He called out, partner smacking him lightly at the snobbish tone that came with his statement. Emma groaned and sat up straighter, glaring across at the man on the street. She cringed at the ratty moustache that was starting to grow in, thankfully his partner was forcing him to shave it monthly now.

“Fuck off Dale, no one likes you.” She rolled her eyes at him. It caused people to look over at this bickering, the suburban mums living for this development. She looked at Peter, who had covered his face in embarrassment, he didn’t like public attention, especially not when Dale was drawing it. Emma pitied him. But they seemed to be going strong.

Paul looked around uncomfortably, looking out his own window, met with another car. He saw a man in it, talking with two young women in the back seat, he smiled. Randy was trying to get into the town too, talking to Maya and Denise as he indicated towards the cemetery. Paul lowered his window, reaching out to knock on the other car window. The man looked over and smiled, leaning out his window to speak to him.

“Alright Ben?” He asked, Paul able to see the dark circles under his eyes. He’d been driving for longer than Paul had. Montana to Michigan along with stopping to pick up the girls was too much for him.

“Of course, yourself?”

“Can’t complain… I thought it’d be a good time to come back, the girls haven’t wanted to for a few months.”

“No one really wants to. But it’s only right. Tragic story for that town.” A tragic story he was forced to live through. “Who are you staying with? Our friend Richard lives a little way out of town, he’s letting us stay there with his girlfriend and son.” Paul supposed it wasn’t really relevant information but he couldn’t stop the ramblings.

“Stephanie just got a divorce so we’re staying with her… Her husband frightened the girls so they’ll feel safer there.” Randy shrugged a little. They all knew who they were speaking about. All the memorial regulars knew one another. It was nice. Paul looked over to Emma, still arguing with Dale and sighed.

“Traffic is starting to clear up. See you soon.” Paul waved slightly to Randy as both men rolled up their windows and began to roll their cars steadily through the streets, more regulars scattered around the streets. All lumbering towards a distinct shape in a park. A large building.

The Hatchetfield Memorial.

“Here we go…” Emma sighed as Paul found a parking spot. They paused for a moment. Paul taking a moment to breathe. Accept that they were about to see a reminder of their fates. He pushed the car door open, going around to the other side, opening Emma’s door too. He took her hand and led her towards the memorial. 11:50. Almost the exact time the virus began. He led her into the stone carved structure. Names were written across walls, small captions written by those who had known them in life.

‘ _ Carol Davidson- beloved mother _ ’

‘ _ Charlotte Mayweather- loyal wife to Sam Mayweather’ _

Paul snorted at the second title before landing on a single name.

‘ _ Paul Matthews’ _

Nothing was written below it. His parents where all he had left. They had been in too much pain, too sucked into their own issues to think of something to put on the stone. Paul gently rested a hand on his name, a weak, tearful smile on his face. He made it out. As painful as seeing his name was, it served as the reminder that he was still here. He was alive and living a better life now. He looked over to Emma, who was practically fascinated by seeing her name. It was odd, they had seen it so many times before. But it was still a shock. She looked over to him, smiling.

“One minute…” She whispered softly as he took her hand again. He squeezed it as he noticed everyone begin to file out, holding onto each other and preparing for the date to change. Paul followed the crowd, ending up directly in front of the doors. He looked down at his phone. Twelve midnight. The chattering group went quiet. He looked around at the faces he had seen so many times before. Randy was just beside him, arm around Maya as she held hands with her new wife, Denise. Peter and Dale were on the other side of Emma, hands clasped as they both cast their eyes downward. Well, not completely. Peter’s eyes were darting to a young couple at the back of the group. Paul recognised them too. Michael had his arm around his girlfriend Lydia, her younger sister, Alyssa, holding onto her. Richard was nearby too, offering a weak smile as Emma looked back as well. Then they all bowed their heads. A silent recognition of what they had lost together. But what they now all had back.

_ It was certainly unusual for a small town to survive an all-out war between two all powerful beings. But it would have been the first time. This dimension proved Hatchetfield could make it though. What about in the others? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok! And we're done! Thank you for everyone who read this garbage fire, it means so much!


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